Guadalupe Loaeza’s Blonded Ambition: Lip-Synching, Plagiarism, and Power Poses

Abstract

When trying to think beyond the stereotypes about Guadalupe Loaeza that cast her as a ditzy señora, it proves helpful to place her in context with other femme intellectuals in the Mexican media. The genealogy begins at least with late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century feminized bohemian Mexican poets Amado Nervo and Ramón López Velarde, who helped to make the non-masculin e endeavor of poetry writing more visible and even respected. Significantly for my argument, these poets paid homage to romantic themes in their poetry and cultivated a sort of noble aesthetic sensibility in their clothes. Decked out in a beribboned diplomatic jacket (think Michael Jackson’s Sergeant Pepper wear) and a black dandy coat respectively, Nervo and López Velarde paved the way for other more extravagantly dressed writers to gain visibility as notable citizens. The successors include eccentric twentieth-century Mexican literary stars and television personalities Salvador Novo and Guadalupe Amor, and, some years later, Juan José Arreola. These celebrities’ public appearances drew on varying combinations of outrageous femininity and blatant sexuality to support their claims of singular artistic ability and sparkling intellectual talent. Loaeza had in common with Arreola and Amor the struggle to define herself as a capable thinker who never attended a university.

Thanks to Mary Vázquez Guizar, Sergio Almazán, Margarita de Orellana, and the always delightful Guadalupe Loaeza.