Raw Meat: Masculinity and National Identity in the Films of Amat Escalante / Raw Meat: Mascolinità e identità nazionale nei film di Amat Escalante

Abstract

In my paper I wish to analyse how Mexican film director Amat Escalante questions masculinity and how his method is connected to the most important themes of New Mexican Cinema. My study examines his three full-length features, that is, Sangre (2005), Los bastardos (2008) and Heli (2013). I would like to prove that male (or even female) bodies are not spectacles which entertain audiences and offer them some kind of a satisfactory view, but objects that are put into a marginalized position. Moreover, the paper argues Escalante shows the point of view of average citizens, not heroic archetypes which is a common theme in Mexican films made after the Millennium. By showing vulnerable bodies, the director points out how local identity is constructed and how the traditional Mexican identity changed compared to the previous eras.