Morality in the Aesthetics of Violence: Political Denunciation in La Virgen de los Sicarios (1994, 2000) by Fernando Vallejo

Abstract

This article analyzes the aesthetic shift between the novel and the movie, La Virgen de los Sicarios, as Fernando Vallejo was both the author of the novel and the screenwriter of the movie. Each text follows the same general plot, yet there is a marked change in tone as the bloodthirsty city of Medellín overshadows the novel, while two love stories dominate the movie. Highlighting that both texts were created to denounce widespread sociopolitical violence in Colombia, I use the aesthetics of rupture and the sublime to determine which art form was more effective in perpetuating Vallejo’s message. This article concludes that the movie adaptation was the initial catalyst in the culture shift Vallejo hoped for within the Colombian public due to its adherence to the sublime, and that his novel prolonged his message through the aesthetics of rupture.