Juarez and Maximilian. Stories and interpretations in film and literature

Abstract

This paper approaches the relations between history and fiction through analysis of two works: the Franz Werfel drama’s Juarez und Maximilian (1924), and the Miguel Contreras Torres movie’s, Juárez y Maximiliano (1934). Both works intend to tell us the happened during the Second Mexican Empire, Werfel with the Austrian gaze and Contreras with the Mexican gaze. We go inside to biography and context of authors, as well as the reception of the drama and movie in the local press, to understanding the political implications of the representations of the past. Finally, we analyze the philosophy of history implied in both Werfel and Contreras, and your relations with creation’s context.