Pitfalls of Trauma

Revisiting Postdictatorship Cinema from a Semiotic Standpoint

Bibliographic Data

ID18976222
AuthorsGaribotto (0000-0003-0040-1288, University of Kansas, corresponding author), Verónica Garibotto
Year2022
Volume52
Issue4
Pages654-667
Publication date2022-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLatin American Research Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0023-8791 • E-ISSN: 1542-4278
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.25222/larr.56
OpenAlexW2765668409
LanguageEN
References cited34

This article examines two approaches to postdictatorship cinema: trauma theory, which has been especially popular in reading this corpus, and semiotics, which has regained popularity in film analysis in general but is not often employed when analyzing postdictatorship films. The article claims that, though highly productive in the 1990s, trauma theory has become less fruitful after decades of continuous scholarship and after the emergence of administrations that have made the representation of the dictatorship the center of their public policies, such as kirchnerismo in Argentina (2003–2015). While trauma theory yields ahistorical analyses, a semiotic approach that takes into account how indexical, iconic, and symbolic signs merge in the cinematic field allows for historical interpretations that are more adequate for reading postdictatorship films, especially after 2003. The article first outlines the main tenets of the two approaches (trauma theory and semiotics), then assesses their suitability for historical interpretation via a brief analysis of Andrés no quiere dormir la siesta , a 2009 Argentine film on the country’s last dictatorship

Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Dictatorship · Epistemology · Indexicality · Movie theater · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Semiotics · Sociology · History · Law · Law in Society and Culture · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Philosophy · Rhetoric and Communication Studies

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