Abstract: This article focuses on The Golden Bug—Or Victorias Hämnd (2014), codirected by the Argentine filmmaker Alejo Moguillansky and the Swedish artist Fia-Stina Sandlund. Although the film is a product of the collaboration between both directors, the imprint of Moguillansky’s poetics is evident, which has as one of its foundations ars combinatoria and, in that sense, has a strong Borgesian influence. The political meanings produced in the film by three different possibilities of ars combinatoria are analyzed. First, the combination of different arts is analyzed to demonstrate that this sometimes becomes a formal anchor of the conflict between Latin America/men/anticolonialism and Europe/women/feminism, as each art represents a particular geocultural reference, Europe or Latin America, producing a constant cultural decentering and thus questioning essentialism in national and cultural identities. Second, the article analyzes the way the film combines and parodies identity discourses and politics, such as nationalism and essentialist feminism. Finally, it is proposed that, through theft—which gives fictional form to the anticolonialist discourse that constitutes the ideological skeleton of the film—and the combination and proliferation of stories that it triggers, the film traces a continuity between the colonialism of the past and the colonialism of the present.

Abstract: The present article poses that twenty-first-century Argentine comics that win awards and have earned a (modest) place in cultural institutions but struggle to sell a few hundred copies are not the result of a downfall. They are instead the achievement of a long symbolic operation that deliberately goes “against the grain of market trends” to (re)construct an autonomous comic field in the wake of the demise of the last “golden age” publisher. Through two sets of intertwined and simultaneous processes (deindustrialization and “shelfification,” and patrimonialization and state patronage), the medium became less an object of cultural commerce and more one of culture, which is supposed to be preserved, fostered, and endowed. By the nature of said processes, anchored by a doxa that pitted national versus foreign and art versus market, a new generation of artists, mostly women, were at first left out of the historically masculinized field that frowned on the influence of Japanese manga in their work. In conclusion, Argentina’s case offers a concrete example of the effect that an increasingly globalized trade has on a cultural industry at the periphery and the agency with which local actors adapt (or not) to those asymmetrical circumstances.

Abstract: Between approximately 1880 and the late 1930s, Anglo-American promoters often held bloodless bullfights across the United States, producing a very pale, clumsy, and sometimes even comical imitation of the corrida de toros . This culturally hybrid custom emerged via the process of “glocalization,” by which agents consciously modify a system promoted internationally to accommodate local conditions, in this case, the specific American legal and cultural demand that bullfighters not harm horses or kill bulls. This article examines the sheer ridiculousness of Anglo-run bullfights at three types of events—world’s fairs, Spanish heritage festivals, and boxing tournaments—and the equally absurd and confused ways Anglo-Americans opposed these events. The spectacular incomprehension about bullfighting among Anglos (and sometimes even Latinos) in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reverberated with further confusion over issues of the desirability of true cultural authenticity, the integrity of Hispanic heritage, the propriety of certain behaviors among women, and the unresolved question of just what constituted animal cruelty. Americans’ occasional interest in bullfighting over a half century, initially the product of a fascination with the culture of the Southwest, ultimately forced Anglos to confront some attitudes and customs of their own culture.

Abstract: French-language hip-hop music and Medellín (Colombia) might seem an odd pairing, but it is one that is increasingly relevant in terms of “gangsta”-style rap music produced by rappers from France. Once notorious for extreme violence due to Pablo Escobar’s infamous drug-trafficking cartel, Medellín has since become one of the most innovative urban centers on Earth. Despite this transformation, some continue to associate the Andean city with crime. Stereotypes such as these are perpetuated by films and series that glorify the tumultuous era of the past at the expense of positive changes in the present. Seeking to take advantage of Medellín’s sensationalized reputation for their own gain, popular hip-hop artists from France are increasingly choosing to use the city’s disenfranchised barrios as settings to film hardcore music videos. By doing so, they can emphasize their hypermasculine street credibility and toughness in ways that are unavailable to them at home.

Abstract: Moviegoing is a codified and historically grounded practice, reflecting habits, attendance patterns, and socioeconomic distinction, as well as notions about entertainment and gender differentiation. Although influenced by dominant societal models, moviegoing practices manifest differently in each locale, revealing cultural and socioeconomic amalgamations and delineating the societal roles assigned to women and the place of subordinate classes. This study examines this phenomenon in the city of São Paulo through the writings of the film critic Octávio Gabus Mendes in the magazines Paratodos and Cinearte from 1925 to 1929. Mendes’s discussions span various topics, such as the development and structures of movie theaters in the 1920s, when these venues aimed to increase female attendance, and an exploration of national film production. Furthermore, socioeconomic and gender differentiations are constructed both in the physical space of movie theaters and through the societal gaze directed toward them. In this approach, we follow the New Cinema History. We compare Mendes with the international literature on prevailing film screening practices during that period. To contextualize how this discourse intersects with national aspirations and local film production practices, we incorporate studies specifically focused on cinema in Brazil into our analysis.