Representing History, Class, and Gender in Spain and Latin America: Children and Adolescents in Film

249 Pages·2012·1.03 MB·English

by  Carolina Rocha

Representing History, Class, and
Gender in Spain and Latin America
Also by Carolina Rocha
Masculinities in Contemporary Argentine Popular Cinema (2012)
New Trends in Argentine and Brazilian Cinema (2011), coedited with Cacilda Rêgo
Violence in Contemporary Argentine Literature and Film (2010), coedited with Eliza-
beth Montes Garcés
Argentinean Cultural Production during the Neoliberal Years (1989– 2001) (2007),
coedited with Hugo Hortiguera
Representing History, Class, and
Gender in Spain and Latin America
Children and Adolescents in Film
Edited by Carolina Rocha and Georgia Seminet
representing history, class, and gender in spain and latin america
Copyright © Carolina Rocha and Georgia Seminet, 2012.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-1-137-03086-3
All rights reserved.
First published in 2012 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States
— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by
Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England,
company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has
companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United
Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-349-44061-0 ISBN 978-1-137-03087-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137030870
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available from the Library of
Congress.
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Scribe Inc.
First edition: August 2012
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Evangelina
— Carolina Rocha
To my parents and brother
— Georgia Seminet
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Carolina Rocha and Georgia Seminet
I Memory and Trauma
1 Surviving Childhood: The Nepantla Generation
as Portrayed in On the Empty Balcony by Jomí García Ascot 33
Julia Tuñón
2 Fairies, Maquis, and Children without Schools:
Romantic Childhood and Civil War in Pan’s Labyrinth 49
Antonio Gómez L- Quiñones
3 A Child’s Voice, A Country’s Silence:
Ethnicity, Class, and Gender in El silencio de Neto 63
Georgia Seminet
4 Children’s Views of State- Sponsored Violence in Latin America:
Machuca and The Year My Parents Went on Vacation 83
Carolina Rocha
5 Enabling, Enacting, and Envisioning Societal Complicity:
Daniel Bustamante’s Andrés no quiere dormir la siesta 101
Janis Breckenridge
II Childhood and Paths to Citizenship
6 Innocence Interrupted: Neoliberalism and the
End of Childhood in Recent Mexican Cinema 117
Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado
7 From Buñuel to Eimbcke: Orphanhood in
Recent Mexican Cinema 135
Dan Russek
viii contents
8 Through “Their” Eyes: Internal and External Focalizing Agents
in the Representation of Children and Violence
in Iberian and Latin American Film 151
Eduardo Ledesma
9 Roads to Emancipation: Sentimental Education in Viva Cuba 171
Rosana Díaz- Zambrana
III Gender Identity
10 Constructing Ethical Attention in Lucía Puenzo’s XXY:
Cinematic Strategy, Intersubjectivity, and Intersexuality 189
Jeffrey Zamostny
11 Cinematic Portrayals of Teen Girls in Brazil’s Urban Peripheries:
Realist and Subjectivist Approaches to Adolescent Dreams
and Fantasy in Sonhos roubados and Nina 205
Jack Draper
12 No Longer Young: Childhood, Family, and Trauma
in Las mantenidas sin sueños 223
Beatriz Urraca
Notes on Contributors 239
Index 243
Acknowledgments
The impetus for this project was provided by the Latin American Stud-
ies Association (LASA) Montreal conference in 2008, which allowed
the coeditors a venue to think about children and young protagonists
in film. We are grateful to the contributors for their dedication to meet-
ing deadlines and their collaboration throughout the process. We also
want to thank Cristina Carrasco, Caryn Connelly, Sophie Dufays, Regina
Faunes, Yvonne Gavela, Erin Hogan, Juliet Lynd, Aldona Pobutsky, Anna
Profitt, Liz Rangel, Ana Ros, and Sarah Thomas who are also working
on this topic and have provided us with insight along the way. We are
especially indebted to Rachel Merriman for her professional work on the
index. Contributors Janis Breckenridge, Jack Draper, Beatriz Urraca and
Jeff Zamostny generously took the time to help out during the edito-
rial process. Naomi Lindstrom, Philippe Seminet, Sylvia Carullo, Cacilda
Rêgo, and David Uskovich have provided insight and critical commen-
tary through their thorough reading of the volume. We are indebted to
them, as well as to Melissa Raslevich, who provided us with historical data
from LASA. Finally, we would like to thank the anonymous readers who
provided us with valuable comments on the manuscript and our assistant
editor at Palgrave, Sara Doskow, who promptly supported us throughout
the process.
Our family and friends can attest to the hours we have put into the
volume, and for their support and patience Georgia Seminet would like to
thank the Silversteins, the Smiths, the Seminets, the Zacharys, and most
of all Philippe, Chloé, and Camille for helping Seminet keep her feet on
the ground. For her part, Carolina Rocha is very grateful for her fam-
ily’s understanding while she embarked on yet another project. Thanks
to Camila, Clara and Armando. Rocha is grateful to, Paulina Piselli, who
helped in obtaining films.
The coeditors are also indebted to their institutions. Georgia Seminet
would like to thank the College of Humanities at St. Edward’s University
for their enthusiastic support of her ongoing research projects. She is also
indebted to the College of Liberal Arts and colleagues in the Department
of Modern Languages at the University of Texas–A rlington. Seminet
would also like to thank her students during the fall of 2010, who prof-
fered exceptional help in the editorial process and deserve to be named:
x acknowledgments
Adriana Cabeza, Ana Dávila, Laura Díaz, Moyasser Elqutob, Christina
García, Anel Herrera, Lauren Jaynes, Ruby Manuel, Hugo Montalván,
Donna Montoya, Katherine Monzón, Johana Orellana, Danielle Purcell,
María Saldaña, Ana Saldívar, and Jorge Vásquez. She is also grateful to her
students from the spring of 2011, who helped cultivate ideas and theories
regarding the child and adolescent in film.
Carolina Rocha is grateful for the support of the Graduate School of
Southern Illinois University and the support of her colleagues: Jennifer
Miller, Tom Lavallee, and Joaquín Florido Berrocal, as well as Deidre
Johnson for her patience and continuous help. Special thanks are in order
for students Joshua Castillo and Kristina Becker, who were her research
assistants.