The Latin American Road Movie

Abstract

This book explores the ways films made by Latin American directors and/ or co-produced in Latin American countries have employed the road movie genre to address the reconfiguration of the geographical, sociopolitical, economic, and cultural landscape of the region. With a corpus of more than two hundred films, Latin American road movies have achieved a high profile in the last two decades at major film festivals and profitable results at the box office. The Latin American Road Movie's twelve essays traverse diverse cinematic routes and cover extensive geographical landscapes from a common point of departure: The traveling narrative of the road movie and its focus on crossing borders--physical, metaphorical, theoretical--make the genre ideal for reexamining the ideological grounds of national and regional discourses. This book explores the ways films made by Latin American directors and/ or co-produced in Latin American countries have employed the road movie genre to address the reconfiguration of the geographical, sociopolitical, economic, and cultural landscape of the region. With a corpus of more than two hundred films, Latin American road movies have achieved a high profile in the last two decades at major film festivals and profitable results at the box office. The Latin American Road Moviéђةs twelve essays traverse diverse cinematic routes and cover extensive geographical landscapes from a common point of departure: The traveling narrative of the road movie and its focus on crossing borderśђؤphysical, metaphorical, theoreticaĺђؤmake the genre ideal for reexamining the ideological grounds of national and regional discourses. Acknowledgements; Contents; Notes on Contributors; List of Figures; Chapter 1: Introduction: Reconfiguring Precarious Landscapes: The Road Movie in Latin America; The Latin American Road Movie: Readings and Genealogies; Latin American Modernity on the Road and in the Spotlight; Heterogeneous Territories: Mapping Class, Race, Gender, and Sexuality; Regional Techniques and Local Iconographies; Notes; Work Cited; Filmography; Part I: Latin American Modernity on the Road and in the Spotlight; Chapter 2: Revisiting Modernity Through the Latin American Road Movie. Journeys of Discovery: Meeting Latin America's OthersChanging the Path of the Nation: Progress and Revolution; Global Expulsions: From Non-Place to Non-Person; Roads to Modernity: Between Reality and Aspiration; Notes; Work Cited; Filmography; Chapter 3: Journey to the Ruins of Modernity: Euforia and 40 días; Notes; Works Cited; Chapter 4: The Power of Running on Empty: On the Road in Post-Soviet Cuba; A Communion of Fuel-Sharing: Guantanamera; Priming the Pump of the Rest-Stop: Lista de espera; The Pot-Holes of Driving Backwards: Miel para Oshún; The End of the Road (Movie)? Viva Cuba; Notes. Works CitedPart II: The Latin American Road Movie: Readings and Genealogies; Chapter 5: Recorriendo las Américas: Cars, Roads, and Latin American Cinema; Notes; Work Cited; Filmography; Chapter 6: Lonely Souls in Sólo Dios Sabe by Carlos Bolado: Pastoralism and Syncretic Spirituality in Times of Crisis; The Neoliberal Nation-State on the Road; Lonely Souls Hit the Road; Pastoralism and Spiritual Renewal; Conclusion; Notes; Work Cited; Chapter 7: Tania Hermida's Qué tan lejos: Bending Conventions on the Road to Cuenca; Notes; Works Cited. Part III: Heterogeneous Territories: Mapping Class, Race, Gender, and SexualityChapter 8: Central American Non-belonging: Reading 'El Norte' in Cary Fukunaga's Sin nombre; Mapping Central American Non-belonging Across Borders; Forging Belonging Within the Margins; Non-belonging as Contestation; Notes; Works Cited; Chapter 9: Decolonizing Maya Border Crossings in El Norte and La Jaula de Oro; Framing Maya Identity; Screening Maya Border Crossings; Gendering Maya Immigration Journeys; Decolonizing the Latino/American Lens; Notes; Works Cited. Chapter 10: Configuring Desire and Social Order in the Contemporary Mexican Youth Road FilmNavigating Desire and Social Order; Displays of Social Difference and Desire in Por la libre; Displays of Class Difference and Queer Desire in Viaje redondo; Moving Toward a Future; Notes; Works Cited; Filmography; Part IV: Regional Techniques and Local Iconographies; Chapter 11: The Contemporary Documentary Road Movie in Latin America: Issues on Mobility, Displacement, and Autobiography; The Trip, the Road Movie, and the Reconstruction of Sociocultural Bonds. Journeys of Discovery: Meeting Latin America's OthersChanging the Path of the Nation: Progress and Revolution; Global Expulsions: From Non-Place to Non-Person; Roads to Modernity: Between Reality and Aspiration; Notes; Work Cited; Filmography; Chapter 3: Journey to the Ruins of Modernity: Euforia and 40 di⁺ѓas; Notes; Works Cited; Chapter 4: The Power of Running on Empty: On the Road in Post-Soviet Cuba; A Communion of Fuel-Sharing: Guantanamera; Priming the Pump of the Rest-Stop: Lista de espera; The Pot-Holes of Driving Backwards: Miel para Oshu⁺ѓn; The End of the Road (Movie)Viva Cuba; Notes. Works CitedPart II: The Latin American Road Movie: Readings and Genealogies; Chapter 5: Recorriendo las Ame⁺ѓricas: Cars, Roads, and Latin American Cinema; Notes; Work Cited; Filmography; Chapter 6: Lonely Souls in So⁺ѓlo Dios Sabe by Carlos Bolado: Pastoralism and Syncretic Spirituality in Times of Crisis; The Neoliberal Nation-State on the Road; Lonely Souls Hit the Road; Pastoralism and Spiritual Renewal; Conclusion; Notes; Work Cited; Chapter 7: Tania Hermida's Que⁺ѓ tan lejos: Bending Conventions on the Road to Cuenca; Notes; Works Cited.