Secrets, Trauma, and the Memory Market (or the return of the repressed in recent Argentine post-dictatorship cultural production)

Authors

  • Silvia R Tandeciarz College of William and Mary

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2012.43

Keywords:

Memory, Argentina, State Terrorism, Melodrama, Justice, Neoliberalism

Abstract

Since the end of the last Argentine Dictatorship (1976-1983), a number of feature-length films have engaged in the public debate over the legacies of state terrorism. El secreto de sus ojos (2009), Argentina's most recent Oscar winner, is the latest to do so, exploring the effects of more than a decade of impunity on those who lost their loved ones. Suggesting that restoration of a justice system that works can lead to the restoration of full civic engagement in a healthy body politic, the film raises important questions about citizenship and belonging in a post-national era. This essay explores the film's phenomenal success in the global memory market to illuminate what remains at stake in contemporary narratives of reconciliation.

Author Biography

Silvia R Tandeciarz, College of William and Mary

Associate Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures, and Chair of Modern Languages and Literatures

References

Erll, A. (2010). "Literature, Film, and the Mediality of Cultural Memory." In A. Erll and A. Nünning (Eds.), A Companion to Cultural Memory Studies. Berlin and New York: De Gruyter. 389-398.

Campanella, J. J. (2009). El secreto de sus ojos. Argentina: Sony Pictures Classics. 2010. DVD.

Derrida, J. (2001) "On Forgiveness." On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness. New York: Routledge. 27-60.

Feitlowitz, M. (1998, 2011). Lexicon of Terror. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.

Gledhill, C. (2000) "Rethinking Genre." Reinventing Film Studies. Ed. C. Gledhill and L.Williams. London: Arnold. 222-243.

Hortiguera, H. (2010). "Políticas del recuerdo y memorias de la política en El secreto de sus ojos de Juan José Campanella." Ciberletras 24. Retrieved 7 March 2011 from http://www.lehman.cuny.edu/ciberletras/v24/hortiguera.html.

Huyssen, A. (2003). Present Pasts. Urban Palimpsests and the Politics of Memory. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Jelin, E. (2001). Los trabajos de la memoria. Madrid: Siglo veintiuno.

Masiello, F. (2001). The Art of Transition: Latin American Culture and Neoliberal Crisis. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

Nelson, A. A. (2011). "Conclusion. Marketing Discontent: The Political Economy of Memory in Latin America." In K. Bilbija and L.A. Payne (Eds.), Accounting for Violence. Marketing Memory in Latin America. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

Sacheri, E. La pregunta de sus ojos. (2005). Buenos Aires: Galerna.

Sommer, D. (1991). Foundational Fictions: The National Romances of Latin America. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Sontag, S. (2003). Regarding the Pain of Others. New York: Picador/Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Williams, L. (1998). "Melodrama Revised." In N. Browne (Ed.), Refiguring American Film Genres: History and Theory. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press. 42-88.

Downloads

Published

2012-04-20

How to Cite

Tandeciarz, S. R. (2012). Secrets, Trauma, and the Memory Market (or the return of the repressed in recent Argentine post-dictatorship cultural production). CINEJ Cinema Journal, 1(2), 62–71. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2012.43

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 2 (2012)

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. The Author retains copyright in the Work, where the term “Work” shall include all digital objects that may result in subsequent electronic publication or distribution.
  2. Upon acceptance of the Work, the author shall grant to the Publisher the right of first publication of the Work.
  3. The Author shall grant to the Publisher and its agents the nonexclusive perpetual right and license to publish, archive, and make accessible the Work in whole or in part in all forms of media now or hereafter known under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License or its equivalent, which, for the avoidance of doubt, allows others to copy, distribute, and transmit the Work under the following conditions:
    1. Attribution—other users must attribute the Work in the manner specified by the author as indicated on the journal Web site;
    with the understanding that the above condition can be waived with permission from the Author and that where the Work or any of its elements is in the public domain under applicable law, that status is in no way affected by the license.
  4. The Author is able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the nonexclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the Work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), as long as there is provided in the document an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  5. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post online a prepublication manuscript (but not the Publisher’s final formatted PDF version of the Work) in institutional repositories or on their Websites prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. Any such posting made before acceptance and publication of the Work shall be updated upon publication to include a reference to the Publisher-assigned DOI (Digital Object Identifier) and a link to the online abstract for the final published Work in the Journal.
  6. Upon Publisher’s request, the Author agrees to furnish promptly to Publisher, at the Author’s own expense, written evidence of the permissions, licenses, and consents for use of third-party material included within the Work, except as determined by Publisher to be covered by the principles of Fair Use.
  7. The Author represents and warrants that:
    1. the Work is the Author’s original work;
    2. the Author has not transferred, and will not transfer, exclusive rights in the Work to any third party;
    3. the Work is not pending review or under consideration by another publisher;
    4. the Work has not previously been published;
    5. the Work contains no misrepresentation or infringement of the Work or property of other authors or third parties; and
    6. the Work contains no libel, invasion of privacy, or other unlawful matter.
  8. The Author agrees to indemnify and hold Publisher harmless from Author’s breach of the representations and warranties contained in Paragraph 6 above, as well as any claim or proceeding relating to Publisher’s use and publication of any content contained in the Work, including third-party content.

Revised 7/16/2018. Revision Description: Removed outdated link.