283 SLAC 13 (3) pp. 283–301 Intellect Limited 2016 Studies in Spanish & Latin American Cinemas Volume 13 Number 3 © 2016 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/slac.13.3.283_1 KEYWORDS Hispanidad Golden Age Mexican cinema Spanish cinema Jorge Negrete cultural imperialism masculinities DIANA NORTON University of Texas (In)visible bodies and cultural imperialism: Jalisco canta en Sevilla/Jalisco Sings in Sevilla, Teatro Apolo/Apollo Theatre and the star discourse of Jorge Negrete in Spain ABSTRACT In his two Spanish films – Jalisco canta en Sevilla/Jalisco sings in Sevilla (1948) and Teatro Apolo/Apollo Theatre (1949) – Jorge Negrete plays characters that travel to Spain for financial reasons and remain for love of a Spanish woman. This discourse legitimizes a criollo identity that removes him from the discourse of mexi- canidad as defined by mestizaje. While it has been argued that the romantic relation- ships of these films represent a convivencia [coexistence] between Mexico and Spain, such a reading does not account for the complex identity constructions of Golden Age Mexican cinema. As Mexican identity consolidated around mestizaje, indus- trialization, urban migration and social mobility, Negrete’s Spanish films ignore this discourse and exclude his participation within it. I will use Said’s ‘structures of attitude and reference’ to illuminate the discourse of Hispanidad that marked the creation of these films. I aim to reveal the invisibility of the industrializing Mexican