The Politics of Detachment and Disruptive Tourism in Las cosas como son (Fernando Lavanderos, 2012)

Abstract

Detachment has become a key notion for the study of contemporary Latin American cinema. This article examines how detachment is related to tourism and how it refigures the political in Las cosas como son (2012), a film by Fernando Lavanderos, who is considered representative of a new generation of Chilean directors. By drawing on recent insights from tourism studies, the close reading highlights tourism’s disruptive potential with respect to disaffection in a host–guest relationship. It then relates this “disrupted disaffection” to the film’s ending, arguing that detachment can be conceived of as “unsentimentality” – a notion bridging the apparent gap between an aesthetics of detachment and the political sphere.