Argentina: El Espacio Urbano y la Narrativa Fi­lmica de los Ultimos Anos

• Main Author: Chamorro, Alberto P.
• Other Authors: Compitello, Malcolm A
• Language: SP
• Published: The University of Arizona. 2009
• Subjects: Buenos Aires - In literature; Buenos Aires - In motion pictures; Buenos Aires - representacion filmica; Cultura popular - Buenos Aires; Nuevo Cine Argentino; Popular Culture - Argentina
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10150/195438

"Argentina: El espacio urbano y la narrativa fi­lmica de los ultimos anos" fills a void in the extant body of criticism on New Argentine Cinema of the 1980s and 1990s. While much as been done on the thematics and aesthetics of this body of work little has been produced in the way of studying the relationship between film form and urban process in the way Laura Podalsky does in her ground breaking study of a previous period in Specular City: Transforming Culture, Consumption and Space in Buenos Aires. More than just beginning where Podalsky ends, this work aims to provide with a more thorough on-going analysis of how the urban process in Buenos Aires influences the cartographic imaginary of a number of important film makers. Additionally, it draws together the work of important spatial theorists such as Jameson, Davis, Smith and especially Harvey. Moreover, it incorporates the concepts of film theorist David Bordwell to demonstrate how urban issues permeate the thematics and structure of the films that are analyzed.While addressing the previous points, this work also helps to modify the perspective in which the current canon of critical review portrays the cinematographic movement referred to as the New Argentine Cinema. Until now there were two main ideas about the new movement that were shared by the majority of critics. The first one makes reference to the lack of common elements among directors and films associated with the current. The second notion is that the directors of the New Argentina Cinema movement, in contrast to those from 1960's, do not align themselves politically to either side and that apathy is reflected in their films.Throughout the chapters of this work it is successfully proven that the directors of the New Argentine Cinema are amalgamated with a common theme, which is the representation of the relationship between urban spaces, either physical or intangible, throughout the majority of their films. In addition, the second conceptual hypothesis is also proven correct by demonstrating that directors in fact align themselves politically and that their views are reflected in their films.