In my dissertation, I trace the representation of drug use, globalization, social marginality, and violence in the two well-known films by the Colombian director Víctor Gaviria. My approach is framed by Walter Benjamins critical-theoretical work on the notions of experience and intoxication, Gilles Deleuzes idea of double becoming, and Giorgio Agambens concept of bare life. I am also concerned with what might be called the ethical dimension that is inherent in Gavirias strategy (the use of natural actors, the question of pornomiseria, etc.).
These films involve what I call the paradox of drug euphoria, this paradox, I argue, means that for those whose existence have become bare life, in Agambens sense of the term, using drugs is an opportunity to reassert their lives. Drugs help the central characters in Gavirias films create a collective experience and give value to themselves and their social environments. On the other hand, global accumulation, deterritorialization (the specter of Medellín as a kind of chaotic postmodern megalopolis), and frenetic stimulation are also effects of drugs, once productive of bare life." These destructive effects are interrupted by the utopian desire of the characters in the films, who are also real people, not only actors representing the urban poor. However, these fleeting moments of utopian plenitudenot unlike what Benjamin meant by illuminations are interrupted in turn by the force of capitalist deterritorialization and dehumanization. Gavirias films exist in and portray the dialectic relation between these two forces. In short, I develop the paradox of euphoria into a critique of contemporary society and a new understanding of collective experience.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-05272009-213408 |
| Date | 30 September 2009 |
| Creators | Herrera, Lizardo |
| Contributors | Hermann Herlinghaus, Professor Fred Evans, Professor John Beverley, Professor Juan Duchesne |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-05272009-213408/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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