On the Path of Eurocentric Discourse in the Cinema of Explorers

Main Article Content

Mónica Villarroel

Abstract

The fi lms made by European explorers, in the silent fi lm era, are built on a Eurocentric logic when it comes to Latin America. They reproduce the relationships of power identifying, on the one hand, certain features of colonialism that emphasize modernity and progress, and, on the other hand, highlighting the characteristic exoticism, disability and the precariousness of the local indigenous cultures. The following article will review a number of fi lms by European explorers on America from the early twentieth century, as a support to this perspective. It will conclude with a comprehensive analysis of the fi lm Tierras Magallánicas, from the Salesian Alberto de Agostini, interwoven with other fi lm productions from a similar period of time.

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Author Biography

Mónica Villarroel

Universidad de Chile monicavillarroelm@gmail.com