Movie Depictions of Boys Clothes: Argentina


Figure 1.--This still is from the Argentine movie "Chiquitas" (2001). Notice that he wears a bow and not a tie with what looks like a modern blazer.

HBC has only limited information on the Argentine film industry at this time. Most Latin American countries are noted for only a few important movies. Argentina is one of the three countries with a major film history (the others are Brazil and Mexico). The industry has, however, suffered over time from unstable governments and since the Peron era, an often weak economy. Various Argentine governments hace shown some interest in a national film industry. Argentina in the first half of the 20th century had the most important film industry in Spanish-speaking Latin America. That imdustry by the 1980s have sharply declined as a result of the country' economic and political caos. The Government provided some support such as funding film profuction. These efforts were, however, did not counter the impact of economic decline, political caos, and repressive censorship instituted by military governments. Argentine film makers by the 1980s found it increasingly difficult to compete with foreign-made films. An Argentine reader has mentioned two relatively recent Argentine films: Chiquitas and Kamchatka.

Film Industry

Political and economic trends in Argentine have had a powerful affect on the country's film industry. The industry's most fruitful period was in the 1930s and early 40s before the Peron era.

Silent films (1894-1930)

The Argentine film industry dates from the 1890s. The kinetoscope appeared in Argentina in 1894 and a kinetoscope concessionaire in 1896 began public projections with a device he had personally invented. The first film exhibition in Argentian, with a picture of the Lumiére's, was held on July, 18, 1896 in Buenos Aires. Argenines in 1897 began importing French movie cameras. A Frenchman resident in Argentina, Eugene Py, produced the first Argentine film, a short feature--La bandera argentina (The Argentine Flag). The first movie theaters opened in 1900 and the first filmed news reels were shown. Argentina's first feature-length film was Amalia (1914). The first big box-office success was Nobleza Gaucha (1915) (The Nobel Gaucho) which used a popular national theme. Over 200 silent movies were produced in Argentina. Some of the most memoravle films were shot by Agustín Ferreyra. Unfortunally few of the Argentine silent films survive. The interesting aspect of silent films was how easily they crossed international boundaries. The subtitles could wasily and inexpensively be transferred to any language.

Golden era (1930-43)

Talking films appdeared in the 1930s giving rise to an increased demand for Spanish-language films, both in Argentina and other Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America. The first Argentine talkie was made in 1933. A substantial film industry developed in Argentina because of the country's economic relative affluence and substantial domestic population. The industry turned out over 40 films annually during the 1930s and early 40s. [Martin, p. 451.] The Argentine films focused on a mix of popular national and social themes. Several films addressed realistic social problems despite conservative governments and political censorship. Argentine films were watched all over Latin America during the 1930s and 40s.

Juan Peron (1943-55)

A military junta seized power in Argentina in 1943 during World War II. One of the members of the junta was an army colonel, Juan Domingo Peron (1895-1975). Peron and his emensly popular wife Eva ("Evita") were to dominate Argentine poitics for a generation and there legasy is still felt today through the continued influence of the Peronista Party. Surprisinly the decline of the Argentine film industry began in 1943 when Peron and Evita rose to prominance. This is surprising because Evita was involved in the Argentine cinema before marrying Peron. Eva Duarte (1919-52) was born into poverty and out of wedlock in a dusty village in the Argentine pampas but came to Buenos Airs and became an actress and the the mistress of Colonel Peron. Argentina's "shirtless ones" in October 1945 swept Peron into power. Peron was elected president in 1946 and Evita became the president's wife. She ammassed both spiritual and actual power that was unrivaled by any other woman other than hereditary monarcs. She was idolized by millions of Argentines, but feared and hated by the upper class. Evita as the president's wife gave up her gilm career and focused her efforts on her husband's political career. [Ortiz] Given her background in the movie industry, Evita did not forget the film industry. She in fact took a special interest in the industry and as the president's wife and with her growing staure in her own right, she dominated the industry. Critics and rivals were fired or expelled from Argentina. The film industry beginning with the Peron era stopped making films that realistic addressed social issues and popular national themes. This is would appear strange because Peron's center of support was the working class and alabor unions to which these films appealed. The Argentine film industry began making films with less realistic and often more European themes. This alientated the Argentine and other Latin Amerivcan movie public, in large messure working-class people. [Martin, p. 444.] Not only were the new themes less appealing, but the Argentine industry could not make these films to the same standards as European and American film studios, even the ones deemed by the censors suitable to be shown in Argentina. As a result, foreign films became increasingly popular in Argentina, and by the 1950s had come to dominate the domestic market. Evita died in 1952 and Peron was removed from office by a military coup in 1955.

Unstable Governments (1955-76)

The Argentine film industry continued to make small numbers of films in the the 1950s-60s, but made no real progress in replacing American and other foreign films in Argentine theaters. The Government after the fall of Peron tried to address the problems of the Argentine film industry with the "Cinema Law of 1957". Despite the law, American films continued to dominate Argentine movie theaters. The law did establish the Instituto Nacional de Cinematografia (INC--National Cinematographic Institute) which provided some finding for Argentine productions. [King, p. 82.] The domestic war against a vicious Communist guerilla insurgency in the 1970s caused the Argentine Government to even more tightly censor films. As a result, film makers were aftarid of addressing contemporary social issues. Films that were made were often insipid and uninspired.

Second Peron Government and military rule (1976-83)

The Peronistas without Peron returned to power in 1976 and until 1983 was ruled by the Peronistas and military juntas. Severe censorship in the film industry continued. This involved both formal censorship and the knowledge among film makers that those preceived as sympathetic to the Communist guerillas might well "disappear". The country's film industry during this period experienced even more severe reversals than it had under the first Peronista government. Repression and censorship by the dictatorship in addition to the continued economicy caused the film industry to decline even further. The production of Argentine films declined in both number and quality. Argentine theaters increasingly showed American and other foreign films. [Martin, p. 450.] By the end of the military dictaorship in 1983 only 12 films were made in Argentina. American films cinstituted over 40 percent of the films showed in Argentine theaters. With foreign fills absorbing so much of the domestic box office recepits, it became increasingly difficult to finance the production of films in Argentina. Most of the films made in the early 1980s were financed in part by the INC. These funds were a loan, not a subsidy, and they covered about 30 to 50 percent of the total costs. A further problem in an era of hyper-inflation was that delays in disbursement frequently meant that the money received was often only a fraction of the initial value. [King, p. 92.] The decline of the domestic film industry was also furthered by declining movie attendance in Argentina. Movie attendance reportedly declined about 50 percent between 1974 and 1984. The number of movie theaters as a result also declined 50 percent, from 2,100 in 1967 to 1, 000 in 1985. [King, p. 92.]. Essentially the country's working class stopped seeing movies--especially Argentine films. Here television was a factor. The government-imposed wage freeze while inflatuon was raging at 40 percent meant that many workers could simply not afford to go to the movies. [Martin, p. 451.] Argentina's military government in 1982 tried to redirect rising poular discontent by seizing the Falklands (Malvinas) Islands from Britain, but the military dissater following caused a return to democratic rule in 1983.

Democratic government (1983- )

The democratically elected government that assumed power in Argentina instituted many new economic policies. One of these was an effort to revilatize the industry declining film insustry. One new policy was a 10 percent tax on movie admission ticket sales. The proceeds were chanelled into the domestic film industry. There were 26 feature films made in 1984, an impressive increase over 1982. This increased production did not, however, prove to be permanent. Only 15 movies were made in 1985. Censorship was relaxed and film makers angering the military no longer neeeded to fear the threat of "disappearing". Industry anaysts attribute the continued proiblems Argentine film makers faced to the due to the persistent control of production the control of the distribution network by large multi-national companies. [Martin, p. 458.] Perhaps more umportant was the fact that low-budget domestic films did bot have the box office appeal of big-budger Hollywood and other foreign films. Thus the failure of Argentine films to generate profits made it increasingly difficult to finance additional films. We are not sure how Argentine film making fared in the 1990s, but we have noted a few interesting films. Cutting line issues such as the thousands who disappeared during military rule can now be addressed in films like Kamchatka (2002). The country economic crisis in 2002 has created an even more difficult environment for the national film industry.


Figure 2.--Harry's hero in "Kamchatka" (2002) is the master illusionist Harry Houdini--presumably because he can so easily appear and disappear. Here Harry wears a denim jacket.

Individual Films

An Argentine reader has mentioned two relatively recent Argentine films: Chiquitas and Kamchatka.

Chiquitas (Argentina, 2001)

The title in Spanish Chiquitas means "Litte ones" referaing endearingly to children. Belén is a young charmer of 20 years who, at the request of two fantastic personages, a young goblin and the wise person of the library, [? to let her world of innocence and magic to face the challenge to choose its own and personal history]. Belén finds a book left in the library from which pages come out the laughing and weeping of boys. Belén decides to contact a group of orphans lodged in a dismal and sad orphanage run by a Colonel and his collaborator, Marl (Alejandra Flechner). Both are admired by the inhabitants of Villa Golden Red deer who contribute to the maintenance of the Home of Orphaned Children. Particularly the Intendant of the village, supports the Colonel and Marl, since she does not know their true intentions. The children in the film wear quite a number of different costumes.

Kamchatka (Argentina, 2002)

The title of Kamchatka comes from the forbidding Siberian Kamchatka Peninsula. This is an alegory from going into the cold or hiding from the military authorities. Harry is an ordinary 10- year old boy. He goes to school, he enjoys board games and watching TV. His father is a lawyer, his mother works at University, and his younger brother, Tiny, is his inevitable messmate. The world Harry lives in is not normal. Argentina's government in 1976 has been displaced by a coup d'etat. Thousands of citizens are hunted, abducted, and dissappear. In most of the cases, the only crime those people can be accused of is to have verbally opposed such regime. This is the case of Harry's parents.

Sources

Freaser, Nicholas and Marysa Navarro. Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron (W.W. Norton, reissued in 1996).

King, John. Magical Reels: A History of Cinema in Latin America (London-New York: Verso, 1990).

Martin, Michael T. New Latin American Cinema: Studies of National Cinemas Vol. 2. (Wayne State University Press: Detroit, Michigan, 1997.

Ortiz, Alicia Dujovne. Eva Peron: A Biography (St. Martin's Press, 1996).

Evita: An Intimate Portrait of Eva Peron (Rizzoli International Publications, 1997). This is a beautiful 191-page photographic biography of Evita. Evita: In My Own Words.







HBC






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Created: December 5, 2002
Last updated: December 5, 2002