Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

From Buñuel to Eimbcke

Orphanhood in Recent Mexican Cinema

  • Chapter
Representing History, Class, and Gender in Spain and Latin America

Abstract

The orphan is a recurring figure in a number of Mexican films. While Los olvidados (The Young and the Damned; Luis Buñuel 1950) has generally been interpreted from the point of view of juvenile delinquency and urban poverty, the dramatic role played by orphanhood in Buñuel’s film has not always been fully identified. In this essay, I use Los olvidados as a point of departure for examining the metaphorical function of orphanhood in Temporada de patos (Duck Season; 2004) and Lake Tahoe (2008) by Fernando Eimbcke (born 1970). Contrary to the often melodramatic take on human relations portrayed in Mexican cinema, my analysis will showcase the understated approach that Eimbcke—part of a talented crop of emerging Mexican filmmakers, which includes Carlos Reygadas and younger directors like Amat Escalante, Rodrigo Plá, Gerardo Naranjo, and Nicolas Pereda—applies to the subject of the orphan.1

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Works Cited

  • Aguilar Camín, Héctor, and Lorenzo Meyer. In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution: Contemporary Mexican History, 1910–1989. Trans. Luis Alberto Fierro. Austin: U of Texas P, 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aviña, Rafael. “Los hijos de Los olvidados.” Los olvidados: Una película de Luis Buñuel. Ed. Agustín Sánchez Vidal México: Fundación Televisa, 2004. 285–309.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. “El cine infantil y los niños en el cine.” Una mirada insólita: Temas y géneros del cine mexicano. México: Oceáno, 2004. 109–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayala Blanco, Jorge. “El neobreviario de podredumbre.” La grandeza del cine mexicano. México: Océano, 2004. 73–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. “La patoaventura pasiva.” La herética del cine mexicano. México: Océano, 2006. 123–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Backstein, Karen. “Duck Season.” Cineaste 31.3 (2006): 60–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berthier, Nancy. “La trasnacionalidad en el cine de Luis Buñuel.” Abismos de pasión: Una historia de las relaciones cinematográficas hispano-mexicanas. Ed. Eduardo de la Vega Alfaro and Alberto Elena. Madrid: Filmoteca Española, 2009. 147–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buñuel, Luis. My Last Sigh. Trans. Abigail Israel. New York: Knopf, 1983.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cineteca Nacional. “Fernando Eimbcke.” 50 Cineastas de Iberoamérica: Generaciones en Tránsito 1980–2008. 1er. Congreso de la Cultura Iberoamericana. México: Cineteca Nacional e Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía, 2008. 215–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cortázar, Julio. “Luis Buñuel: Los olvidados.” Obra Crítica. Vol. 2. Madrid: Alfaguara, 1994. 251–56.

    Google Scholar 

  • De la Colina, José, and Tomás Perez Turrent. Luis Buñuel: Prohibido asomarse al interior. México: Planeta, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delgado, Maria. “Lake Tahoe.” Sight and Sound 19.9 (2009): 74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, Gwynne. The Discrete Art of Luis Buñuel. London: Boyars, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eimbcke, Fernando, dir. Lake Tahoe. Distrimax, 2008. Digital videodisc.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. Temporada de patos [Duck Season]. Distrimax, 2004. Digital videodisc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ennew, Judith. “Prisoners of Childhood: Orphans and Economic Dependency.” Studies in Modern Childhood: Society, Agency, Culture. Ed. Jens Qvortrup. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. 128–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, Peter William. The Films of Luis Buñuel: Subjectivity and Desire. Oxford: Clarendon, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, David William. Mexico City in Contemporary Mexican Cinema. Austin: U of Texas P, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Franco, Rolando, Martin Hopenhayn, and Arturo León. “The Growing and Changing Middle Class in Latin America: an Update.” CEPAL Review 103. April 2001. 7–25. 25. Web. Mar 2012. <http://www.cepal.org/publicaciones/xml/7/44057/RVI103Hopenhaynetal.pdf>.

  • Fuentes, Victor. Buñuel en México: Iluminaciones sobre una pantalla pobre. Teruel: Instituto de Estudios Turolenses, 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. Los mundos de Buñuel. Madrid: Ediciones Akal, 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  • García Tsao, Leonardo. “Patologías de hoy.” El ojo y la navaja. México: Punto de Lectura, 2008. 125–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guy, Donna. “The State, the Family, and Marginal Children in Latin America.” Minor Omissions: Children in Latin American History and Society. Ed. Tobias Hecht. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 2002. 139–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haber, Stephen, Herbert S. Klein, Noel Maurer, and Kevin J. Middlebrook. Mexico since 1980. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2008.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • “Huérfano.” Diccionario de la Lengua Española. 2001. Real Academia Española. 25 Mar. 2012. <http://www.rae.es/rae.html>

  • Lake Tahoe. Dir. Fernando Eimbcke. Perf. Diego Cataño, Diego Herrera, Daniela Valentine, and Juan Carlos Lara II. [0]Distrimax, 2008. Digital videodisc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamas, Marta. “¿Madrecita santa?” Mitos mexicanos. México: Taurus, 2001. 223–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • “Latin American Economic Outlook 2011: How Middle-Class is Latin America?” Latameconomy.com . Web. 25 Mar. 2012. <http://www.latameconomy.org/en/in-depth/2011/>.

  • Millán Agudo, Francisco J. Las huellas de Buñuel. Teruel: Instituto de Estudios Turolenses, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olvidados, Los [The Young and the Damned]. Dir. Luis Buñuel. Perf. Roberto Cobo, Estela Inda, Alfonso Mejía, and Miguel Inclán. Televisa, 1950. Digital videodisc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Podalsky, Laura. “Out of Depth: The Politics of Disaffected Youth and Contemporary Latin American Cinema.” Youth Culture in Global Cinema. Ed. Timothy Shary and Alexander Seibel. Austin: U of Texas P, 2007. 109–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robey, Tim. “Duck Season.” Sight and Sound 15.3 (2005): 47–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Temporada de patos [Duck Season]. Dir. Fernando Eimbcke. Perf. Daniel Miranda, Diego Cataño, Danny Perea, and Eduardo Arreola. [0]Distrimax, 2004. Digital videodisc.

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations. “América latina: Población por años calendario y edades simples 1995–2005. Latin America: Population by Calendar Years and Single Ages” Demographic Bulletin 36.71 (Jan. 2003): 5–26. <http://www.eclac.cl/publicaciones/xml/2/11942/LCG2197_inicio-i.pdf>.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Dan Russek
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Carolina Rocha Georgia Seminet

Copyright information

© 2012 Carolina Rocha and Georgia Seminet

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Russek, D. (2012). From Buñuel to Eimbcke. In: Rocha, C., Seminet, G. (eds) Representing History, Class, and Gender in Spain and Latin America. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137030870_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation