From Disney to Telenovelas: Latin America in Popular Film and TV

Popular film and media have represented Latin America in various ways, including as a geographical region, a homogeneous culture, and a form of racialization. In this course, we will investigate these representations to understand how Latin America, its people, and its diaspora imagine themselves and how others have conceptualized the region. We will pay particular attention to the myths and stereotypes that cinema and television have sustained as well as Latin America's history of colonization to examine the prevalence of anti-blackness, anti-indigeneity, and other forms of erasure and social exclusion. Sources include Disney's Saludos Amigos and Encanto, Pixar's Coco, and the telenovela Yo soy Betty la fea, among others. Taught in English. Students are welcome to complete work in Spanish.