Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Recorriendo las Américas: Cars, Roads, and Latin American Cinema

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Latin American Road Movie

Part of the book series: Global Cinema ((GLOBALCINE))

  • 630 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter claims that Latin American road movies incorporate elements of comedy, adventure, melodrama, and documentary to portray the region as a pan-national entity. Blasini examines how the Puerto Rican El Clown (2006) establishes an intertextual relationship with a canonical play, René Marqués’s La carreta (1953), to reflect upon the romantic gesture of returning to one’s roots. This relationship with other media and genres also appears in the short film Viernes social (Frida Medín and Viveca Vázquez, 1995), which does not draw on a cinematic tradition but engages with journey narratives’ syntactic and semantic elements—the organization of stories around short and finite trips as well as the centrality of cars as genre icons.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 100.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Work Cited

  • Altman, Rick. 2000. A semantic/syntactic approach to film genre. In Film and theory: An anthology, ed. Robert Stam and Toby Miller, 179–190. Malden: Blackwell. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alvaray, Luisela. 2013. Hybridity and genre in transnational Latin American cinemas. Transnational Cinemas 4(1): 67–87. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bakhtin, Mikhail. 1990. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays, ed. Michael Holquist. Trans. Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist 1981. Austin: University of Texas Press. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baudrillard, Jean. 1996. The System of Objects. 1968. Trans. James Benedict. London: Verso. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Birri, Fernando. 1997. For a nationalist, realist, critical and popular cinema. In New Latin American cinema: Theory, practices and transnational articulations, vol. 1, ed. Michael T. Martin, 95–98. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caleb Acevedo, David. 2012. Diario de una puta humilde. San Juan: Biblio. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Certeau, Michel. 1988. The Practice of Everyday Life. Trans. Steven Rendall. Berkeley: University of California Press. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edensor, Tim. 2004. Automobility and national identity: Representation, geography and driving practice. Theory, Culture & Society 21(4/5): 101–120. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elmers, Vickie. 2013. How commutes compare across America. Quartz, March.5. Web.

    Google Scholar 

  • Featherstone, Mike. 2004. Automobilities: An introduction. Theory, Culture & Society 21(4/5): 1–24. Print.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franco Steeves, Rafae. 2007. Alaska. San Juan: Fondo de Cultura Puertorriqueña. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • García Canclini, Néstor. 2001. Citizens and consumers: Globalization and multicultural conflicts. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • González Miranda, Francisco. 2013. El cine puertorriqueño en el 2012. 80 grados January 18. Web.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jameson, Fredric. 1992. The geopolitical aesthetic: Cinema and space in the world system. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • King, John. 2000. Magical reels: A history of cinema in Latin America. London: Verso. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kornish, Rich, and Kenneth S. Mericle, eds. 1984. Introduction. In The political economy of the Latin American motor vehicle. Cambridge: MIT P. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marqués, René. 1952. La Carreta: Comedia puertorriqueña en tres actos. San Juan: Casa Baldrich. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neale, Steve. 2000. Questions of genre. In Film and theory: An anthology, ed. Robert Stam and Toby Miller, 157–178. Malden: Blackwell. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Picken, Susan. 1999. Highways, by-ways, and the lay-bys: The great British road movie. In Lost highways: An illustrated history of road movies, ed. Jack Sargeant and Stephanie Watson, 221–230. London: Creation Books. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Podalsky, Laura. 2011. The politics of affect and emotion in contemporary Latin American cinema: Argentina, Brazil, Cuba and Mexico. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Print.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rabassa, Gregory. 2001. Introduction. In Macho Camacho’s Beat. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. Champaign: Dalkey Archive Press, iii–viii. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rich, B. Ruby. 1997. An/other view of new Latin American cinema. In New Latin American cinema: Theory, practices and transnational articulations, vol. 1, ed. Michael T. Martin, 273–297. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez, Luis Rafael. 2001a. La guaracha del Macho Camacho. 1975. 2.a Edición. Madrid: Cátedra. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez, Luis Rafael. 2001b. Macho Camacho’s Beat. Trans. Gregory Rabassa. Champaign: Dalkey Archive Press. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vega, Ana Lydia. 1991. Falsas crónicas del sur. San Juan: Universidad de Puerto Rico. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wollen, Peter. 2002. Introduction. In Autopia: Cars and culture, ed. Peter Wollen and Joe Kerr, 10–20. London: Reaktion Books. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. 2015. International road federation. World Development Indicators: Traffic and Congestion. 14 Apr 2015. Web.

    Google Scholar 

Filmography

  • Bye bye Brasil. 1980. Dir. Carlos Diegues. Perfs. José Wilker, Betty Faria, Fábio Jr., Zaira Zambelli, Príncipe Nabor. Br.-Fr.-Arg.: New Yorker Film, DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Central do Brasil. 1998. Dir. Walter Salles. Perfs. Fernanda Montenegro, Vinícius de Oliveira. Brazil-France: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diarios de motocicleta. 2004. Dir. Walter Salles. Perfs. Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo de la Serna, Brandon Cruz, Vilma M. Verdejo. Arg.-USA-Chile-Peru-Br.-UK-Ger.-Fr.: Focus Features, DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • El camino de las hormigas. 1994. Dir. Rafael Marziano Tinoco. Venezuela-Poland: Facets Video, VHS.

    Google Scholar 

  • El Clown. 2006. Dirs. Pedro Adorno and Emilio Rodríguez. Perfs. Israel Lugo, Marcos Mazo, Cathy Vigo, Ernesto Concepción Jr., Julio Ramos, Eduardo Alegría. Puerto Rico: Ciné Sato, DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • El viaje. 1992. Dir. Fernando E. Solanas. Perfs. Walter Quiroz, Kiko Mendive, Carlos Carella. Arg.-Mex.-Spain-France-UK: Traigon-film, DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frameup. 1993. Dir. Jon Jost. Perfs. Howard Swain, Nancy Carlin, Kate Sannella. USA: Complex, DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guantanamera. 1995. Dirs. Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío. Perfs. Mirta Ibarra, Jorge Perugorría, Carlos Cruz, Pedro Fernández. Cuba-Spain-Germ.: New Yorker Film, DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Happy together. 1997. Dir. Wong Kar-Wai. Perfs. Leslie Cheung, Tony Chiu Wai Leung, Chen Chang. Hong Kong-Japan-S. Korea: Block 2 Pictures, Jet Tone Production, et al., DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Historias mínimas. 2002. Dir. Carlos Sorín. Perfs. Javier Lombardo, Antonio Benedictis. Arg.-Spain: New Yorker, DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iracema. Uma transa Amazônica. 1975. Dir. Jorge Bodansky & Orlando Senna. Brazil: Stop Film, DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isla chatarra [Trailer]. 2008. Dir. Karen Rossi. Karen Rossi Films. Online.

    Google Scholar 

  • La niña santa. 2004. Dir. Lucrecia Martel. Perfs. Mercedes Morán, Carlos Belloso, María Alche. Arg.-Spain: El deseo, DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lake Tahoe. 2008. Dir. Fernando Eimbcke. Perfs. Diego Cataño, Héctor Herrera. Mexico: Cinepantera, DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Los inundados. 1962. Dir. Fernando Birri. Argentina: América Nuestra, DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miel para Oshún. 2001. Dir. Humberto Solás. Perfs. Jorge Perugorría, Isabel Santos, Mario Limonta. Cuba-Spain: Maverick Entertainment, DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Viernes social. 1994. Dirs. Frida Medín and Viveca Vázquez. Perfs. Viveca Vázquez, Awilda Sterling, Maritza Pérez, Teresa Hernández, Dorcas Román, DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Y tu mamá también. 2001. Dir. Alfonso Cuarón. Perfs. Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Maribel Verdú, Daniel Giménez Cacho. Mexico: IFC Film, DVD.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Gilberto Blasini

Authors
  1. Gilberto Blasini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Spanish, The University of Kansas , Lawrence, Kansas, USA

    Verónica Garibotto

  2. University of Kansas , Lawrence, USA

    Jorge Pérez

Copyright information

© 2016 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Blasini, G. (2016). Recorriendo las Américas: Cars, Roads, and Latin American Cinema. In: Garibotto, V., Pérez, J. (eds) The Latin American Road Movie. Global Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58093-1_5

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation