THE TRANSMEDIAL AFTERLIFE OF FRIDA KAHLO: ADAPTATIONS ACROSS THE MEDIA
The continued relevance of the Kahlo myth can partly be accounted for by the business strategies involved in the promotion of her name as a trade brand, investors pushing the value of her paintings upwards and the efforts of key players in the cultural industries (actors, directors, designers) to pursue their
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own careers. Nevertheless, vast numbers of people (feminists, Chican@s, the disabled, indigenous peoples, the gay and lesbian community, policy makers and cultural entrepreneurs, among others) have clearly found in the appropriation of this myth a means for self expression, transformation, and for the advance of their own agendas. The Kahlo myth is to me both an entry point and the unifying thread that serves to explore the increasing intertextuality of digital media and its likely meanings at a time of convergence, as well as the political uses of aspects of visual culture centered around her name, as borders between producers/consumers collapse and ―adaptation‖ becomes a strategy of expression, participation, and ultimately perhaps transformation.