At the Center of the Periphery: Arretche’s El grito and the Rhizomatic Visual Discourse of the 1968 Student Movement

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the documentary El grito and the visual discourse of 1968 as manifested in the posters used in protests and demonstrations. I argue, using Deleuze and Guattari, that these works form part of a historical rhizome that opens avenues of interpretation and representation through their connections to other discourses. In so doing, they abandon the hierarchical imperative of trying to establish the “true” history of Tlatelolco in favor of contributing a historical perspective that, in connection to others, can feed the constitution of the whole. El grito, for example, manages to disseminate the student leadership’s ideology through the narration and sound-clips in the film, while it critiques that very construction through the images it presents. Likewise, the posters of 1968 translate and disseminate the ideology of the CNH while still offering a criticism of the lack of credit and representation afforded to those responsible for that medium.