New Constructions of House and Home in Contemporary Argentine and Chilean Cinema (2005-2015)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
New Constructions of House and Home in Contemporary Argentine and Chilean Cinema (2005-2015) Paul Rumney Merchant St John’s College August 2017 This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. New Constructions of House and Home in Contemporary Argentine and Chilean Cinema (2005 – 2015) Paul Rumney Merchant This thesis explores the potential of domestic space to act as the ground for new forms of community and sociability in Argentine and Chilean films from the early twenty-first century. It thus tracks a shift in the political treatment of the home in Southern Cone cinema, away from allegorical affirmations of the family, and towards a reflection on film’s ability to both delineate and disrupt lived spaces. In the works examined, the displacement of attention from human subjects to the material environment defamiliarises the domestic sphere and complicates its relation to the nation. The house thus does not act as ‘a body of images that give mankind proofs or illusions of stability’ (Bachelard), but rather as a medium through which identities are challenged and reformed. This anxiety about domestic space demands, I argue, a renewal of the deconstructive frameworks often deployed in studies of Latin American culture (Moreiras, Williams). The thesis turns to new materialist theories, among others, as a supplement to deconstructive thinking, and argues that theorisations of cinema’s political agency must be informed by social, economic and urban histories. The prominence of suburban settings moreover encourages a nuancing of the ontological links often invoked between cinema, the house, and the city. The first section of the thesis rethinks two concepts closely linked to the home: memory and modernity. Analysing documentary and essay films, Chapter 1 suggests some political limitations to the figure of the fragment which dominates scholarly discussion of memory in Latin America. Chapter 2 studies films which explore the inclusions and exclusions created by modernist domestic architecture. The second section focuses on two human figures found on the threshold of the home: the domestic worker and the guest. Chapter 3 analyses unorthodox representations of domestic work, and explores how new materialist approaches can enhance readings of the political potential of ‘art cinema’. Finally, in Chapter 4 I examine films depicting household visitors that upset ii urban class divisions, and question the possibility of ‘domestic cosmopolitanism’ (Nava 2006) in contemporary Latin America. My comparative analysis of these films explores a rupture between physical dwelling and imagined home that points towards new political practices in a neoliberal, post- dictatorship context. iii Preface This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It does not exceed the prescribed word limit for the relevant Degree Committee. iv Acknowledgements My thanks go principally to Joanna Page, who has been an unfailing source of support, guidance and inspiration. Her incisive comments and clear-sighted counsel have been vital to this thesis and to my development as a researcher, and I am profoundly grateful for them. I thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council for financial support without which this research would not have been possible. The project has benefitted from the suggestions and encouragement of many friends and colleagues: Geoffrey Kantaris and Erica Segre offered insightful feedback at decisive stages in the research, and Geoffrey Maguire, Rachel Randall, Niall Geraghty, Mara Polgovsky Ezcurra and Dunja Fehimović all gave wise advice and reassurance. Lucy Bollington has been a staunch friend and partner in various joint ventures over the last three years, and Julie Coimbra, Chriselia de Vries and Sam Mather have provided both personal support and crucial practical assistance. I received funding for research trips to Argentina and Chile from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, St John’s College, and the Simón Bolívar Fund at the Centre of Latin American Studies. Those trips were made more fruitful and enjoyable by the generosity of many in both countries. Ignacio Agüero and Gustavo Fontán kindly agreed to discuss their work and my approaches to it. In Argentina, Gonzalo Aguilar, Clara Kriger, David Oubiña and Pablo Piedras pointed me towards relevant material, Julia Kratje provided invaluable assistance in obtaining films, and José Ryb was a model of hospitality, friendship and good humour. In Chile, Wolfgang Bongers, Valeria de los Ríos, Pablo Corro Penjean, Carolina Urrutia Neno and Iván Pinto Veas were willing interlocutors, while Antonia Girardi, Catalina Marín and Alfredo Castro offered shrewd advice and did much to make me feel at home in Santiago. I am very grateful to them all. I would like lastly to thank my family, who have helped me retain a sense of perspective even at the most difficult moments. As ever, their love and support deserve more gratitude than I can express. v Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. vii Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1 ‘The House’ and housing in Argentine and Chilean culture ........................................................ 9 Commodification and construction ................................................................................................... 24 Material practices .................................................................................................................................... 27 Deconstructing and reconstructing home ...................................................................................... 30 Film theory: city, house and neighbourhood ................................................................................. 34 The corpus .................................................................................................................................................. 40 Chapter 1. Reassembling the domestic archive: Ignacio Agüero and Gustavo Fontán ............................................................................................................................................... 43 A nostalgic medium ................................................................................................................................. 49 Spectral performances and spectres of hierarchy ....................................................................... 62 The ruined archive .................................................................................................................................. 67 Reflexivity, nature, poetry .................................................................................................................... 73 Chapter 2. Modernism, modernity and their outsides: El hombre de al lado and La Sagrada Familia ............................................................................................................................. 82 El hombre de al lado: media against the masses? ......................................................................... 86 La Sagrada Familia: the enchanting outside ................................................................................ 104 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 118 Chapter 3. Labour unhoused: Mitómana and Réimon .................................................... 121 Mitómana ................................................................................................................................................... 124 Labour and filmmaking .................................................................................................................................... 125 Labour and housing ........................................................................................................................................... 131 Film and housing ................................................................................................................................................. 139 Réimon ........................................................................................................................................................ 148 Marginal aesthetics ............................................................................................................................................ 149 Conflicting materialisms: theory against practice? .............................................................................. 155 Art histories ..........................................................................................................................................................