Since the 1970s and 1980s with the arrival on the international scene of such notable filmmakers as Sara Gómez (Cuba), María Luisa Bemberg (Argentina), Lourdes Portillo (Mexico) and Maryse Sistach (Mexico), there has been a growing interest in Latin American Women Filmmakers. More recently, there has been a further increase with the international success of…
Author: niamh
On Galleries and Exhibits: Review of “What we caught we threw away, what we didn’t catch we kept” Mariana Castillo Deball.
Recently, while in Glasgow I went into the Centre for Contemporary Arts. After going into the exhibition space (which consists of three rooms) and taking in the exhibit, I went out into the café and tweeted: I wasn’t sure what I had just been looking at. I had read the initial overview on the outside…
Noam Chomsky’s lecture in Dublin
On Wednesday the 3rd of April 2013, I attended a lecture by Noam Chomsky who was invited by the Trinity College, Dublin and University College Dublin debating societies. This was the inaugural Frontline Defenders‘ lecture held in the RDS in Dublin. Chomsky, by his own admission, is not a lively speaker, but his breadth of knowledge is…
What I’m Talking About when I Write About Women and Mexicans*
I wrote a blog on Mexicans as Violent Narcos in Breaking Bad some weeks ago, but felt uneasy about it afterwards. I felt a similar sense of unease about an earlier post about Miss Bala. This was further sparked after listening to some vodcasts by Anita Sarkeesian on Feminist Frequency. Here, I hope to tease out this…
Grupo de Estudios Americanos
This is one of interest to those studying American history who speak Spanish. It is largely an aggregate site, but also has interesting reviews of books, films and events. It is sporadically updated, but has some interesting analysis and insight. In their own words: “Grupo de Estudios Americanos (GEA) nació entre personas ligadas al Instituto…
Mexicans as Violent Narcos in Breaking Bad
Breaking Bad is a high quality drama created by Vince Gilligan which follows the story of Walt (Bryan Cranston) who, when diagnosed with lung cancer, decides to become a methamphetamine cook. This decision is justified through the lack of affordability of medical care in the US, a highly politicized topic there. As a chemistry teacher…
Revolución online, on demand and on DVD
Here’s a link to a short description of Revolución [Revolution] (2010) made by Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal’s company Cananea: Curt Hopkins (2010) “The (Mexican) Revolution Will be Televised – But on YouTube, and 100 Years After it Began” Readwrite, November 5th, http://readwrite.com/2010/11/05/the_mexican_revolution_will_be_televised_-_but_on. It includes a short video interview with the filmmakers. The film was first…
His Hands Were Gentle: Selected Lyrics of Víctor Jara
The full review will be published in the Journal of Socialist History. Today, I have been working on a review of His Hands Were Gentle: Selected Lyrics of Víctor Jara, a book of lyrics and poetry by the Chilean folk singer, Víctor Jara, whose life story has been overshadowed by his torture and death, yet the power…
Restless and the Manic Pixie Dream Girl
I don’t normally write anything that is not directly related to my research area, but the Manic Pixie Dream Girl (MPDG) is a trope that has caught my attention over the last couple of years. Here, Dominic Kelly writing in The Guardian describes the character as “a recurring trope in the romantic genre, [who] are…
Edward Saïd On Orientalism
I came across this video http://vimeo.com/14326780 today on a listserv. It’s an interview with Edward Saïd framed by an academic introduction to his work and uses a very interesting montage of images to establish its argument at the beginning. It is by Global Information Services, about whom you can find out more here: http://www.gisfilms.org/about.htm, whose “primary…