As threatening as these noticeably foreign intruders may have appeared none were able to defy the headlocks and body-slams of Mexico’s tight-wearing national heroes. Soon Dracula, the Wolfman, Frankenstein, Zombies and even a few Martians were all invading the wrestling ring. The emergence of an indigenous horror genre in Mexico in the late 1950’s, starting with films such as ‘The Vampire’ (1957) & ‘The Man & The Monster’ (1958), had a strong influence on the Mexican wrestling movie. The early Lucha Libre films usually pit their masked heroes against gangsters, crooks or kidnappers but slowly science-fiction and fantasy elements crept in to the stories giving the protagonists more other-worldly opponents to grapple with. Although El Santo himself would soon embark on a 4 decade spanning film career on this occasion another wrestler played the eponymous role. The Lucha Libre film genre effectively commenced in 1952 with the release of El Enmascarado De Plata (The Man In The Silver Mask), the lead character based on a popular masked wrestler named El Santo (The Saint). On a purely functional level by keeping their faces covered performers could be defeated in one incarnation only to return to the ring as a new character the next week without too much fuss. The colourful masks provided larger than life identities for the heroes (yay!) and villains (boo!) and a particularly terrible defeat would climax with the loser unmasked and humiliated. Masked combatants were divided into 2 camps: ‘tecnicos’ (the good guys) & ‘rudos’ (the bad guys) and their dramatic conflicts owed as much to pantomime theatricality as they did to athletic prowess and sportsmanship (although I wouldn’t say that to their faces). Wrestling had been a popular spectator sport in Mexico since the early 1930s before appearing on cinema screens in the ‘50s. With their combination of masked super-heroes & secret agents, monsters & mad scientists, bouts of frantic man-on-man grappling & Saturday morning serial style criminal capering they have no immediate cousins anywhere else in the world. Right now I think that’s the main thing that I need to achieve: to make people feel respect, not only for the films, but for the audience that enjoys these films too.Mexican wrestling, or Lucha Libre movies form a peculiar and unique cinematic genre. When people say that these films aren’t worthy of conservation, that it doesn’t matter if they are passed on to future generations for whatever reason, you’re saying to millions of Mexicans that enjoy these films that their judgement is not good. I think the biggest challenge is that this is not only a non-profit and independent archive, but this is an archive that is dedicated to rescuing cinema that has been despised by critics or institutions. So I think in that sense, my biggest challenge is to make people understand that popular culture is important and that we need to stop the tremendous classism we have in Mexico. What has been the biggest challenge in operating an archive focused on saving popular films? I started this crazy project in 2015 when I realized that there was a need for an institution that will look after popular films with respect. How long have you been running Permanencia Voluntaria?
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