Tag Archives: Argentina

10/14/21

It All Comes Back To Anahí

We touched on how, in “the Crazy Woman and the Tale of the Crime”, by Ricardo Piglia, Anahí represents the Argentinian society as a whole; however, we never really dove deep into it. Therefore, I want to expand on the little hints and big clues that demonstrate Anahí as symbolism of the post-neoliberalism social structure. For example, Anahí kissed the fat man’s feet in exchange for “a thousand pesos” (558). If Anahí represented Argentinian society and in the process, Argentina as a whole, then the fat man represents American neoliberalism. Thus, it symbolizes the kind of relationship between the two countries during such a time. Therefore, the bar, the New Deal, represents all the different countries in the world that America has tamed, with money, to further its liberalistic policies.

In order to truly understand this short story, one must read between the lines. Yet, reading between the lines has an entirely different meaning in this text as Renzi had to read between the delirious lines of Anahí in order to understand what she was trying to say. Just like how Argentina had to rely on literature to maintain free speech / history and how we had to delve deeper into this rabbit hole to figure out why this Anahí is so significant. 

The relationship between Anahí and Evita Peron further illiterates on Anahí being a symbol for Argentina. Notice how Anahí “was a queen and was a friend of Evita Peron”(561). The past tense is important because it implies that Anahí was friends with Evita at some point. However, in Evita’s biography there is no mention of Anahí anywhere; because it would only make sense if she was never real in the first place and a symbolic representation for Argentina. Anahí being a queen also suggests that Argentina was way better off before America intervened.

This literature acted as the “fourth estate” for Argentina when all other forms of resistance or criticism has failed.  I believe this makes it so that if this form of fictional literature as critique were to be silenced, then it would cause mass suspicion and ultimately cause more harm than good to neoliberalism. 

10/14/21

The housewives of Altos de la Cascada

As I watched “Widows on Thursdays” I could not help but laugh at the country club depicted in the movie as I’m very familiar with these gated communities. Growing up in Argentina, they were the norm for many upper-class families and ex-pats. My friends used to live in them, and I remember just how different their lives were there in comparison to other people living in the suburbs such as myself. Here we were able to do things like roam around freely at night, which during my teens it was almost impossible to do outside without the fear of something happening to you.

Despite the amazing qualities that many people see with these communities, there’s always a fakeness that comes to it. Argentina is no stranger to economic crises, and in those people are forced to make life changes, such as how we see with Tano, Ronnie, and Martin. But it becomes so hard for them to accept their new realities. They’d rather die than have to face their wives and families with the truth, which is that they must leave this idyllic community with their friends, sports, and security.

This need to appear successful and wealthy is common in Argentine society, and we are shown the extreme measures that people would go to maintain this. What the movie is able to demonstrate is the erraticness of the Argentine economy, and that even the people living in the most secure communities are not safe from being unemployed and joining the rest of society in their struggle to make it through yet another crisis.

10/13/21

Thursday’s Blog Post

Thursday’s Widows demonstrates how a film can be just as effective as a detective fiction short story in making a statement about economic and sociocultural issues. As “detective fiction,” I definitely found I wasn’t as engaged in “solving the mystery” as I was when reading Borges or Bermúdez, because I just knew that through no effort of my own the answer would be provided for me eventually – films naturally don’t require as much “work” as reading does. However, because of the use of prolepsis in the film I nonetheless found myself looking for clues and suspicious characters over the course of the movie, because we discovered early in the film the location, means by which, and victims of the crime. As a “literary device” in film form, prolepsis (foreshadowing?) was effective in providing intrigue from the beginning.

With respect to the genre and its broader meta-message, if we are to believe that the killers were in fact Tano, Gustavo and Martín themselves, the movie strays from typical detective fiction in that there is really no detective figure central to the story. I think the absence of a glorified state personnel, like a detective or police officer, as a main character, definitely serves as a critique of the state itself – especially when we consider that these men committed suicide largely because of the state’s actions (the collapsing economy). In this way, the film “flips the script” to demonize the state, whilst celebrating and sympathizing with the killers, much in the same way as Bermudez’s Puzzle of the Broken Watch, where a police officer ends up being the killer.

10/12/21

“Thursday’s Widows” and … Zombies?

“Thursday’s Widows” (2008) follows the deaths of three seemingly wealthy men, pretending to live perfect lives, ‘detached’ from Argentina’s social and economic realities. We rarely catch a glimpse of what is truly going on outside the gated and exclusive residential zone. Yet, through news clips and quick shots contrasting the slums and wealthy zones of the city, we know of the apocalyptic nature in which Argentina finds itself. People are fighting for food, suffering gas shortages, and unable to access their money from the banks. Meanwhile, in refuge within their community, the wealthy Argentinians mockingly say, “what would we do without our credit cards.”

An obvious social critique, the film has a zombie apocalyptic feel to it, a theme commonly used to reflect social anxieties through science fiction means. This technique is reminiscent of Night of the Living Dead (1968) by George Romero and his sequels, which are critiques of racial relations and capitalism. Although “Thursday’s Widows” does not actually feature zombies, there is an “us” vs “them” theme, from how they treat their house workers to how they look at the outside, scared that the images they see on the television will affect their perfect, “safe haven” and “detached-from-reality” bubble. What they do not realize until Ronnie tells the wives the truth about their husbands’ deaths, is that it is too late, the effects of the economic virus floating in Argentina has already infected them. No matter their isolation, they have already turned into zombies. Which, in a way, might have been what they wanted, as the three women affected are the ones who seemed to desire it the most. Gustavo and Carla, a problematic couple from the ‘outside,’ Martin’s harsh economic standing, which resembles the situation most of ‘outside’ Argentina is living, and Tano’s depression, which is an ‘outside’ feeling due to the economic context, are how the ‘virus’ begins to develop, resulting in their deaths, except for Carla who was innocent in the story. By the last scene, the community has turned into zombies after the husbands’ deaths. As Ronnie’s family leaves, the final stage perfectly sets their escape from repeating the same mistakes. As their car leaves the infected area, a seemingly safe space, gates, barbwire, and security guards are shown. Yet, it is just as dead on the inside, as the ‘outside.’ At some point, Lala says something like: “what if they [working-class Argentinians] come to the gates and try to enter.” Again, utilizing zombie imagery of them trying to infiltrate the community as if it had not already happened on its own. Furthermore, the three husbands who die are also the most corrupt ones, who work for foreigners and exploit their fellow nationals, which partially fuels the economic crisis—coming full circle, and referring to the karma which Ronnie makes a note of at the beginning of the movie. At last, the only ones who “make it out alive” and are to find refuge away from the infected zone are those who can still trust and love each other. As in a zombie apocalypse, you need trust to make it out alive.