Outcasts, Superheroes, and Rebels: Identity and Social Justice in Latin(x) American Cinema

Catalog description

In a deeply polarized world, identity has often been at the center of conflict - whether wars among nations, imposition of colonial violence, repression of different marginalized groups, and human rights violations, among other forms of inequality and oppression. Cinema, as a popular form of entertainment, has represented identity in myriad ways. How have race, gender, class, and other intersecting markers of identity and marginalization been constructed on screen in Latin America and its diaspora? And how have these representations (frequently converging around the figures of outcasts, superheroes, and rebels) advocated for social justice, liberation, and belonging? These are the central questions that will guide the course's exploration of popular film within Latin American cultures as students develop a portable methodology to "read" and analyze moving images in different sociohistorical contexts. Sources may include the films Bacurau, El secreto de sus ojos, Blue Beetle, and Real Women Have Curves as well as performances of stars such as Jennifer Lopez and Gael García Bernal.