Abstract
This chapter examines the manner in which the films Rojo Amanecer (1989) by Jorge Fons and El Bulto (1991) by Gabriel Retes extend the scope of discussion to include censorship as a discourse, and the possible ramifications of uncovering the history of Tlatelolco. Rojo Amanecer is the first nondocumentary film shot about the events of Tlatelolco, which in itself is a testament to the way in which this history was omitted from the national discourse for many years. El Bulto, on the other hand, presents a man who is beaten into a coma in 1971 and awakens 20 years later. He symbolizes a history that must be reinserted into the current historical reality that has gone on without him. His historical existence is one that is made possible through the negativity of his coma. He existed untouched and uncontaminated, shielded by negativity from Mexican progress for 20 years.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
It would be over 20 years before another feature film dealt with the Tlatelolco massacre: Tlatelolco. Verano del 68 (2013).
- 2.
For a more complete study of the events surrounding the massacre at the Plaza de las tres culturas, see Sergio Aguayo Quezada’s 1968. Los archivos de la violencia (The archives of Violence, 1998) and Julio Scherer GarcÃa’s and Carlos Montiváis’s Los patriotas. De Tlatelolco a la guerra sucia (2004) and Parte de guerra. Tlatelolco 1968. Documentos del general Marcelino GarcÃa Barragán. Los hechos y la historia (1999).
- 3.
The Halcones were a paramilitary police force that was most visible during a repression of protesters in 1971 that came to be known as El Halconazo.
- 4.
In 2009, Retes announced he would film a sequel to El Bulto titled El Bulto para president (The Lump for President). It would be of interest to see how that film will address the issues of historicity in specific relation to politics in Mexico, in light of the PRI no longer being the anchored power base.
- 5.
This film uses the events of 1968 as background for a predictable romance between Felix, a working-class university student, and Ana MarÃa, daughter of an upper-class, politically connected family. The film makes use of a series of tropes such as a villainous patriarch, a benevolent dying grandfather, a forbidden love (at first sight) between two young people from different social classes, two brothers on opposite sides of the political spectrum, among many others, to drive what is a highly predictable love story set against the student movement of 1968.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2016 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rojo, J.J. (2016). The Specters Come Back to Life: Rojo amanecer and El Bulto . In: Revisiting the Mexican Student Movement of 1968. Literatures of the Americas. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55611-0_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55611-0_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-55987-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-55611-0
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)