El cambio/The Change Joskowicz ([1971] 1975): Mexican counterculture and the futility of protest in the 1970s

Abstract

This article analyses the representation of the 1970s countercultural movement in Alfredo Joskowicz’s film El cambio/The Change ([1971] 1975). It shows how the film portrays its protagonists as part of the Mexican countercultural movement, even as it adopts a critical view of that movement. Not only are the protagonists unsuccessful with their single action of protest, they are also engaged in problematic relationships with female and Indigenous characters. The ambivalence towards counterculture in El cambio is similar to the portrayal of leftist protest movements in other films by the same director. This article expands on the recognized relationship between this film and the director’s oeuvre. It demonstrates that the problematic portrayal of relationships between the protagonists and Indigenous and female characters relates to its historical context and other films from the time period. In particular, it shows that these interactions correspond with some of the ways that the Mexican state and the countercultural movement adopted paternalistic views of Indigenous people and replicated patriarchal relationships between men and women.