Picturing Latin America and Spain Responses by solbi https://padlet.com/skypark/84tt7fpxmq8xp7c1 en-us 2023-05-01 09:33:03 UTC 2025-12-16 14:49:29 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f31f.png The Milk of Sorrow skypark https://padlet.com/skypark/84tt7fpxmq8xp7c1/wish/2573576688 The Milk of Sorrow powerfully explores women’s relationships with generational and sexual trauma through its protagonist Fausta and her mother. Weddings and marriage reoccur as a way to navigate women’s relationships with virginity; a girl asks for her father’s opinion on her wedding dress early in the film, reminding the audience of the patriarchal traditions behind Western marriage customs. A later scene of a saturated, joyful wedding contrasts the whiteness of the bride’s dress meant to symbolise her purity and virginity against the warm background colours, later contrasted against a scene of a wedding dress on a table over Fausta’s mother’s corpse, bringing up a number of implicit questions about her life. Fausta’s dead mother “wearing” the wedding dress makes the audience think about how she too was once an innocent, young bride, but died from the moment she was brutally raped. 

Fausta also constantly wears items of white clothing in the film but sets an uncomfortable tone that stays alongside the existence of the potato inside her. As she extracts the potato in the film’s conclusion and walks across mountains of white sand to bury her mother, she decides to find peace of the painful trauma chaining both of them, and symbolically rediscovers her purity as she leans in to smell a white flower.
]]> 2023-05-01 10:12:23 UTC https://padlet.com/skypark/84tt7fpxmq8xp7c1/wish/2573576688 7 Boxes skypark https://padlet.com/skypark/84tt7fpxmq8xp7c1/wish/2597307701 7 Boxes explores the cultural influence of technology during its emergence. In a time when mobile phones and technology were new and developing, they become integral aspects of modern life in the film as phones are used for communication, filming and watching videos, becoming the point of many characters’ fascination. The film's camera work with handheld cameras, fast-paced cuts and crowded shots create a sense of immediacy and capture the diverse, saturated culture of Paraguay as people run markets and restaurants, juxtaposing against the use of technology. 

TVs and screens project glamorous American movies that Victor constantly yearns for his life to resemble, although his undertaking of a mysterious, adventurous task resembles that of a movie protagonist. He undergoes dramatic chases, enouncters with criminals and the police, and a kiss that would ironically be found in a sensationalised Hollywood movie. However, it is not until after he sees a reflection of these endeavours projected onto a TV when he finally smiles, content with achievement of “fame”. The national and global scale of attention he is receiving is seen in the shots of various locations, households and stores, and the amount of people that have their eyes on Victor in mere seconds as his dream of being famous and relationship with technology reflect the influence of globalization over youth.

]]> 2023-05-19 06:52:32 UTC https://padlet.com/skypark/84tt7fpxmq8xp7c1/wish/2597307701 No skypark https://padlet.com/skypark/84tt7fpxmq8xp7c1/wish/2597308243 Despite the film’s premise being centred around a political election, No recognises the historical and political significance of the events depicted without strongly pushing a political agenda. The cinematography of No utilises palimpsest to layer different cinematic and archival footage and blur the line between reality, historical footage and fiction as the scenes are cut together, resembling a documentary or homemade film, immersing the viewer in the film’s historical context.

Saavedra’s primary goal in the film is to create an effective campaign that creates a striking community and image, and not to end the Pinochet dictatorship, despite it being a direct outcome of his motivations. As his journey shows the intersection of politics and media during a pivotal moment in Chilean history and his efforts to innovate a successful campaign, viewer find themselves rooting for Saavedra as a protagonist and not a political figure. After the “No” vote wins the majority, Saavedra’s monotonous expression as he walks slowly through the crowd is contrasted against the celebrating crowd. When he only smiles after he looks into his son’s eyes, the audience recognises the end of his journey as a character.

]]> 2023-05-19 06:53:08 UTC https://padlet.com/skypark/84tt7fpxmq8xp7c1/wish/2597308243 A Fantastic Woman skypark https://padlet.com/skypark/84tt7fpxmq8xp7c1/wish/2598155448 A Fantastic Woman navigates the complex relationship between self-identity and grief through Marina and Orlando's relationship. The stereotypes around the relationship between a young transgender woman and an old man with an existing family are expressed by the detective, assuming it to be monetary, fetishising or abusive. However, Marina is seen to be more peaceful and content with Orlando prior to his death, as he loves her for who she is, as they express their love through their picturesque, balanced and domestic relationship. As Marina is constantly haunted by visions of Orlando after his death through fragmentations of visions and reflections, the audience is reminded of a missing part of her that she will now have to live without. 

The build-up of her volcanic grief, anger and frustration is finally regurgitated in the film's climax as she jumps on Orlando's family's car, fitting into the aggressive, mental stereotype they view her to be. However, the emission of her rage is therapeutic to the viewer, as she fights for her own humanity and authenticity. When the film finalises as Marina sings to a crowd as she was introduced, although she is now without Orlando, the reality of Marina's present and future is made concrete, as she will now have to continue living as herself, but carrying the loss of someone she loved.

]]> 2023-05-20 05:21:50 UTC https://padlet.com/skypark/84tt7fpxmq8xp7c1/wish/2598155448 Roma skypark https://padlet.com/skypark/84tt7fpxmq8xp7c1/wish/2603070814 Roma powerfully explores Mexico City's context in the 1970s, blending together imagined stories and historical events through themes of sociopolitics, family and femininity. The barrier of class and whiteness between Cleo and Sofía's family is constantly yet subtly made clear to the audience in the earlier scenes of the film, such as when levels and body language are used as Cleo walks behind and around the family sitting on the sofa, distinctly separating their places in the household. Furthermore, the film's use of black and white cinematography allows striking contrasts between colour tones, with the walls and floor of the family's house being lighter-toned, white and symmetrical with tiles and rows of books, compared to when Cleo is seen in a bedroom with dim lighting, dark surroundings and a lopsided painting on the wall. 

However, the integration between Cleo and the family is made on an emotional level, made more transparent after the father Antonio leaves for good; Sofía and Teresa are able to empathise and connect with Cleo through her pregnancy and childbirth, breaking expectations and tropes of discriminated ethnic workers in affluent households. Furthermore, their relationships with men parallel as Sofía is cheated on, Cleo threatened and both are eventually abandoned. After Cleo gives stillbirth and Antonio leaves Sofía's family, the permanent changes made to the characters are seen through the literal rearranging of the house, and the family's constant affirmations of love for each other.]]> 2023-05-24 09:39:50 UTC https://padlet.com/skypark/84tt7fpxmq8xp7c1/wish/2603070814