Mexican filmmaker María Novaro challenges populist stereotypes by presenting an antipatriarchal and dynamic representation of the popular. Novaro's film Danzón (1991) fulfills both popular taste and expectations while also problematizing them. The author uses French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of “taste” and “intention” to respond to the question, How could the same Mexican film, Danzón, be liked by intellectuals at Cannes Film Festival and low-income workers in Mexico? The author also reviews Mexico's cultural politics and its history of representing the popular.
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