Resonances: Gender, Genres and Atmospheres in Argentine and Latin American cinema

JULIA KRATJE

Bristol

Conferencia; Conferences: University of Bristol; 2019

Faculty of Artes, University of Bristol

In English there is no confusion between "genre" and "gender". Each term defines a force field in which sex has little to do with text. On the other hand, Spanish uses the term "género" for both concepts. This mixture of signifiers makes the term inherently unstable: whether we like it or not, genre and gender are mutually interwoven, starting with their very pronunciation. Because in Spanish they share the same written and spoken form, the borders between the two categories become porous, opening up a proliferating game of counterpoints, confusions, symmetries and fluctuating parallels. Similarities and points of convergence between comedy in its various guises and new forms of sexual identity find their resonances in an eccentric and more or less independent cinema. What is new, perhaps, is that in recent decades the new statute of comedy and the new visibility of gender relations have come together: it is no longer just a question of exacerbating human suffering, but also of focusing on pleasant, festive, humorous moments, with outcomes that, if not entirely happy, are at least more light-hearted and move away from sorrow and grief.