Cinema and social differentiation: the impact of Mexican films in Bogotá, Colombia, 1940-1970

This article discusses the roots of identity formation in reference to foreign models and cultural interdependency in Bogotá, Colombia, in the first part of the twentieth century. The text elaborates on how Colombian social classes were shaped, among other things, by the representations that circulated in cultural industries adopting local interpretations of them as part of their internal processes of social differentiation. More specifically, it explores the influence of some Mexican cultural references in Colombian popular identities. The problem of Mexican cultural presence and class differentiation is studied, following the strategies of the diffusion and adoption of those cultural models mainly through the distribution and exhibition of films. In that context, this text elaborates the concept of heterogeneity and interdependence in reference to "national" identity formation.