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Cinéma & Cie. Film and Media Studies Journal
Ph.D. Thesis Abstract - Versions of Carmen in American Cinema
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2005-03-01
2022-10-29
2005-03-01
2024-02-14
Cinéma & Cie
Gloria Fernández Vilches
2005/03/01
Universitat de València
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Ph.D. Thesis Abstract - Versions of Carmen in American Cinema
https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/cinemaetcie/article/download/18958/16688
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VERSIONS OF CARMEN IN AMERICAN CINEMA
Gloria Fernández Vilches / Ph.D. Thesis Abstract
Universitat de València (Spain)




  This dissertation is a part of the research project “Presencias españolas en el cine
norteamericano / Spanish presences in American cinema”, financed by the Ministerio
de Ciencia y Tecnología de España, which is, in turn, the Spanish contribution to the
European and US bilateral macro-project, “Film Studies Program Europe/Hollywood:
The Europeans in the American Cinema”. This macro-project based on la Maison des
Sciences de l’Homme de Paris, studies the influences and contributions of “Old World”
countries to the American film production from the invention of the medium until
today. This research includes both biographical data about film professionals who
migrated to North America (actors, directors, writers, technicians...) and the represen-
tation of European stereotypes (characters, myths, types, landscapes...) in Hollywood
studio films.
  My project focuses on the different versions (explicit adaptations) of the Carmen
myth in classical American cinema. This myth deals with Spanish identity and stems
from the foundational novel written by Prosper Mérimée. Later on, Georges Bizet re-
worked it as an opera. I claim that Carmen is particularly suitable for continuous inno-
vations, re-readings and updates. Moreover, it has clearly proven its capacity to connect
with the different historical epochs, regardless of the particular socio-cultural coordi-
nates of its first formulation. The main issue I attempt to research is why and how
Carmen has been adapted in the US context throughout the period from 1915 to 1954
(classical cinema).
  The first half of this research is divided in the three parts. Firstly, I explain Carmen’s
myth in general terms. It is a myth that cannot be separated from the myth of an exot-
ic and sensual Spain. This image of Spain was fundamentally created by a variety of
travelers, writers and painters, most of whom were French like Mérimée himself,
Gautier or Doré (but also Anglo-Americans such as Washington Irving or George
Borrow) during the 19th century. Their works drew an imaginary erotic geography that
defined the stereotype of the Andalusian woman (and especially the Gypsy, since she
was considered to be more “oriental”) as pure sexual ardor. Carmen is also intimately
related to the long-lasting Western cultural archetype of the femme fatale initiated by
the religious dichotomy that confronts the woman-as-mother with the woman-as-
pleasure.
  Secondly, I focus on Mérimée’s novel and Bizet’s opera. I utilize these two works as
the point of departure for the later film adaptations that compose my field of analysis.
Specifically, I study the manner in which they treat the national stereotype
(Spanishness), ethnic or racial identity (Gypsyness) and gender/sexuality (femme
fatale). Lastly, I explore in general terms how the Spanish stereotype is constructed in

CINEMA & Cie, no. 6, Spring 2005                                                        ­119
GLORIA FERNÁNDEZ VILCHES

American culture throughout history. I bring to the fore the fact the United States is a
nation made of immigrants and has had to articulate different views of the “Other” (the
European, the black, the Latino...) throughout history.
   The second half of my research is chronologically organized according to the most rel-
evant versions of Carmen in classical Hollywood cinema. Chapter 1 focuses on Carmen
(1915, Cecil B. DeMille), since it imported the soprano Geraldine Farrar into the cine-
matic screen and rivaled in its opening with a now lost version of Carmen (1915, Raoul
Walsh), starring Theda Bara, the first vamp in the history of American cinema. In this
section, I also study a parody of DeMille’s film, directed and interpreted by Charles
Chaplin. Chapter 2 centers on Loves of Carmen (1927, Raoul Walsh), starring Mexican
actress Dolores del Rio. Chapter 3 analyzes The Loves of Carmen (1948, Charles Vidor),
with Rita Hayworth. These last two films are star vehicles for Latino-type actresses, who
were believed to be particularly suitable to play the Carmen role. Finally, chapter 4
deals with Carmen Jones (1954, Otto Preminger), a musical set not in Spain but in the
United States, featuring African-American actors. In addition, this film is an adaptation
of a famous Broadway show.
   The structure of each of the described chapters is similar, so that the changing dimen-
sion of the various aspects analyzed can be more accurately evaluated. Not only do I
deal with the textual and aesthetic aspects of the film themselves, but I also examine
archival material such as movie reviews, trade and fan magazine editorials and letters,
production papers, press books, promotion and advertising materials and censorship
files. Therefore, my research relates the films with the Hollywood studios’ cinematic
and industrial practices. I also study marketing and promotional strategies, critical and
spectatorial reception, and the role of each of the Carmen versions in the construction
of the star persona of the actresses that perform the lead role in each of the films.
   My project also studies the manners in which each of these versions of Carmen rep-
resents racial and sexual Otherness – a key aspect in the figure of Carmen – from the
Latino Carmen (Dolores del Rio) to the African-American (Dorothy Dandridge), and
from the silent film vamp (Theda Bara) to the femme fatale in the 1940s film noir (Rita
Hayworth).
   Besides, the films analyzed reflect important social processes that take place in the
United States from 1915 to 1954, such as the changing immigration landscape, the
increasing presence of women at work, the visibility of the New Woman or the first
feminist and civil rights movements. I also relate filmmaking with historical discours-
es dealing with racial, sexual and national identity (i.e. assimilation and nativism theo-
ries).
   Thus, my study of the versions of Carmen in US cinema is based on the combination
of a thorough cinematic formal analysis (mise-en-scene, narration, film genres etc.) and
other socio-historical discourses. Film texts, like any other text, are symptomatic of the
wider cultural milieu in which they come into existence. Films are cultural products
that reveal significant aspects of their production context, historical reality and the ide-
ological positioning of those who produce them and those who view them. They do not
simply reflect or interpret a particular socio-historical reality; they document it by con-
densing the tensions and contradictions of a given period of time and social space in a
symbolical fashion.



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