View in EDS

Blockbusters or blind spots? a critical look at poverty, bullets and bandits narratives in Latin American cinema.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Blockbusters or blind spots? a critical look at poverty, bullets and bandits narratives in Latin American cinema.
Authors: Fernández-Rodríguez, Carlos1,2 (AUTHOR) carlos.fernandez@pdi.atlanticomedio.es, Quiroga Rodríguez, Elio1 (AUTHOR), Romero-Rodríguez, Luis M.3,4 (AUTHOR)
Source: Journal of Multicultural Discourses. Jun2025, Vol. 20 Issue 2, p113-138. 26p.
Subject Terms: *Cultural industries, *Audiovisual materials, *Social problems, Poverty, Violence in motion pictures, Developing countries, Motion pictures
Geographic Terms: Latin America, Mexico, Peru, Brazil
Reviews & Products: Amores Perros (Film), City of God (Film)
Abstract: Historically, the cultural industries of the Global South have been relegated in the face of North American and European production predominance. In Latin America, the most internationally successful audiovisual productions, both at the cinema ticket window and festivals, usually deal with stereotypes of extreme poverty, rurality, delinquency, terrorism, and drug trafficking, which, in the collective imagination of foreign audiences, promote an exaggerated representation of the region's social problems, contributing to xenophobia, hate speech, and anti-migration discourses in countries in the Global North. This study conducts an analysis of five emblematic feature films of Latin American cinema: Cidade de Deus [City of God] (Brazil), La teta asustada [The Milk of Sorrow] (Peru), Cuando acecha la maldad [When Evil Lurks] (Argentina), Los reyes del mundo [The Kings of the World] (Colombia), and Amores Perros (Mexico). This study employs qualitative comparative discourse analysis to systematically examine the narrative structures, visual regimes, and symbolic motifs through which these five films construct meanings around poverty, violence, and marginality in Latin America. The results suggest that the representation of poverty in contemporary Latin American cinema not only responds to a narrative or aesthetic intention but is also deeply conditioned by the production structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Multicultural Discourses is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
Description
Abstract:Historically, the cultural industries of the Global South have been relegated in the face of North American and European production predominance. In Latin America, the most internationally successful audiovisual productions, both at the cinema ticket window and festivals, usually deal with stereotypes of extreme poverty, rurality, delinquency, terrorism, and drug trafficking, which, in the collective imagination of foreign audiences, promote an exaggerated representation of the region's social problems, contributing to xenophobia, hate speech, and anti-migration discourses in countries in the Global North. This study conducts an analysis of five emblematic feature films of Latin American cinema: Cidade de Deus [City of God] (Brazil), La teta asustada [The Milk of Sorrow] (Peru), Cuando acecha la maldad [When Evil Lurks] (Argentina), Los reyes del mundo [The Kings of the World] (Colombia), and Amores Perros (Mexico). This study employs qualitative comparative discourse analysis to systematically examine the narrative structures, visual regimes, and symbolic motifs through which these five films construct meanings around poverty, violence, and marginality in Latin America. The results suggest that the representation of poverty in contemporary Latin American cinema not only responds to a narrative or aesthetic intention but is also deeply conditioned by the production structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:17447143
DOI:10.1080/17447143.2025.2549693