Editor geral Maurício Azevedo Visual Communication: urban representations in Latin America Preparação de originais Eduardo Melo Comunicación Visual: Revisão representaciones urbanas en América Latina Bruno Germer Comunicação Visual: Fotos da capa representações urbanas na América Latina Above below, de hlobo (hamilton lobo) David William Foster Porto Alegre, dezembro de 2008 Denize Correa Araujo ISBN 978-85-62069-11-6 (orgs.) Alguns direitos reservados. Venda proibida. Contents Preface .....................................................................................7 Chicalense way of life, los usos y costumbres de los mexicalenses a través de la mirada del documental. ...............20 Adolfo Soto y Manuel Ortiz “Mirar(nos) nos vuelve libres u oprimidos”: análisis ideológico de algunas formas de representación visual recientes en América Latina, sus supuestos, premisas y repercusiones morales. ............................................................41 Adrián Ferrero editoraplus.org info 3 Orfandades, fúrias e amores nas costuras das cidades: uma análise subjetivista dos filmes “Linha de Passe” e “Última Parada 174” ..............................................................62 Ana Amélia Brasileiro Medeiros Silva The many faces of Buenos Aires: migrants, foreigners and immigrants in contemporary argentine cinema (1996-2008) ....110 Carolina Rocha Of gay caballeros and other noble heroes................................139 David William Foster Molduras urbanas: cenas do subdesenvolvimento ..................187 Denize Correa Araujo editoraplus.org info 4 Espelhos continentais ou como imagens espaciais do Brasil podem refletir a América Latina? Notas de uma recepção cinematográfica. ................................205 Eliska Altmann Hips don’t lie. Nacionalismo colombiano y videos musicales en tiempos de globalización .....................................................268 Juan Carlos Valencia Rincón Representations and images of Latin America .........................297 Lisabete Coradini O caveirão do Huck [The Huck’s big skull] ...............................319 Mariarosaria Fabris editoraplus.org info 5 A construção da metrópole em tempos de crise: Terra Estrangeira e Mundo Grua ...........................................343 Marina Cavalcanti Tedesco Imagens da diversidade: cidade e feminino no cinema brasileiro contemporâneo .......................................367 Sandra Fischer About the authors .....................................................................394 Sobre essa edição ....................................................................401 editoraplus.org info 6 Preface Visual Communication: Urban Representations in Latin America is a title that is composed of three keyword clusters. Perhaps it would be best to read these clusters in an inverse order. The first in such an order would be “Latin America.” It may well be that Latin America is the cre- ation of U.S. ideological imperialism in the nineteenth century and that no one living in Latin American calls herself/himself “Latin American,” as opposed to the way in which the European Union has legitima- ted a continental identity of “European.” At the same time, the invention of Latin America has been abet- ted by a certain Marxian ideology whereby it is legitimate, from an anti-imperialist point of view, to speak of a continuum of sociopolitical interests, although it may be difficult to find any wholesale subscription of such a point of view. Yet, almost two hundred years of the uses and abuses of such a continental identity have meant, in fact, that there are some transborder continuities of identity, even if they are no longer the traditional ones of Luso-Hispanic language, Catholic religion and Iberian heritage. Rather, questions of social and economic instability, demographic explosion (especially urban in nature), corruption and problematical justice: and, indeed, such are the some of the topics that are addressed by the essays of this collection. editoraplus.org info 7 The second keyword cluster is “urban representations.” Today, more than seventy percent of peo- ple in the Caribbean and the Latin American continent inhabit what can be called megalopolises--either an extensive metropolitan area (Mexico City, São Paulo) or a chain of continuous metropolitan areas (Buenos Aires and its littoral area); one might propose a population base of one million as a megalopo- litan minimum, although one thinks of the major Latin American urban concentrations in tens of millions (Mexico is almost 30 million when broadly defined). A famous Argentine expression captures the nature of such urban predominance: “Dios está en todas partes, pero únicamente atiende en Buenos Aires” (God is everywhere, but he only holds office hours in Buenos Aires). Inevitably, then, a national, regio- nal, continental cultural production will perforce occupy itself with the urban experience as it has come to prevail so emphatically. Such an imbalance can be for many problematical, but the simple fact is that that is now where the majority of cultural production is to be found. Finally, “visual communication” captures the way that long-lived cultural traditions of oral nature and print format have been overwhelmed by increased formats of visual communication. Visual art, of course, has always been present, and perhaps it antedated both oral and print tradition in the pre- lapsarian times before human language emerged. However, the shift in term from visual art to visual communication is fundamental. Not only does it question--indeed, undermine--the privileging of the artistic realm: this blurring of categories is, unquestionably, of paramount importance in postmodern societies. But what is more important is the way in which the terms visual communication encompasses editoraplus.org info 8 all manner of new, innovative, contestational, radical, and decentering practices that are particularly characteristic of postmodernity. It is these practices, in their relationship to urban predominance, in a geographical realm that we can agree to continue to call Latin America, that has underlain the organi- zation of this project. Rethinking the proposal of this book after receiving the texts from the twelve researchers, we may say that the subtitle could as well be “how images portray urban life.” Visual Communication, in fact, has been a strong medium in Latin America, considering that, contrary to European and North American countries (except for Mexico), oral culture is emphasized in detriment of written forms. Images have been an important way to shape countries’ identity. As much as texts diverge in their approaches and methodologies, there can be found key words that glance over them, in their search to find ways to convey urban life. Most of these expressions refer to megalopolises and their macropolitics of cri- sis, such as globalization, hegemonic systems, national values, genre tendencies, sociohistoric forces, depersonalizing strategies, and dehumanizing consequences. The tone implied by the researchers also differs, making it possible to say that two main clusters seem to prevail. Some texts discuss common issues in a more detached, aesthetic way while others are more assertive in their political stances, des- cribing actual practices and problems. editoraplus.org info 9 Taking these complementary ways into consideration, two images were chosen to illustrate the cover of this book. The first one represents city elements, such as high buildings and colors, all in lines and sketches that could belong to any megalopolis in the world, having the main features that characte- rize physical basic structures. The image could have been done digitally, shaped following a template that contains typical forms and signs. The second image belongs to the central square in Montevideo, Uruguay, on a holiday in which there was a protest march for the families that had lost their members during the dictatorship period. Dictatorship and abuse of power are familiar words in Latin American countries, but more effective than words and written concepts and claims are images that expose pictu- res of disappeared people. Strong and significant, these pictures reinforce the idea that the past is not yet over nor should it ever be, remaining as a reminder of the consequences of criminal acts. Both ima- ges can be representative of the texts in this book, both intended to provoke reactions and reflections. Hamilton Lobo (hlobo), the photographer who took them, kindly gave us permission to use them there. Six texts can be part of the first image, considering their aesthetic and general view of megalopoli- ses. Ana Amélia Brasileiro describes São Paulo as a space of errancy, a scenario for the protagonist’s search for identity and an amplified image of the subjectivity of the protagonists. If particular social sub- jectivities can be lost in the analysis of the complex issues of urban life, the value of examining specific texts as texts—rather than large groups of textual production—is that it reminds us of the importance of culture for its power to represent and interpret individual life experiences. It little matters whether the editoraplus.org info 10 individuals at issue are historical (as in the case of biographical, autobiographical, or recreated texts) or fictional (the bulk of narratives) because both are driven by a principle of reality effect: the degree to which they make sense of lived human experience. In the case of the two films examined in detail, one fictional and the other documentary,