Description
Book Synopsis This book critically examines how movies that feature real or imagined explorers and expeditions creatively feature the geography of Latin America. It focuses on how locales are scripted into film plots and artistically depicted, and demonstrates that place is as important as any character in a film, especially in this genre.
Nineteen key films are analyzed. Some, like Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo, The Other Conquest, Embrace of the Serpent, and The Lost City of Z are based on the exploits of real explorers. Others are fictional, including Apocalypto, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Dora and the Lost City of Gold. The author also discusses the evolution of exploration-discovery films, including trends that will likely be found in forthcoming movies.
Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- Preface and Acknowledgments: A Personal Journey into Film
- Introduction: A Geographer's View of Latin America and Observations about Filmmaking
- One. Apocalypto: Exploration Before European Contact
- Two. The Other Conquest: An Indigenous View of the Encounter
- Three. Cabeza de Vaca: Exploration at the Margins of Empire
- Four. Aguirre, the Wrath of God: Missteps in Sixteenth-Century Colonial Exploration
- Five. The Mission: Religious Expeditions in Eighteenth-Century South America
- Six. Zama: Colonial Expansion and Its Discontents
- Seven. Aire Libre: The Humanization of Scientific Exploration and Discovery
- Eight. Walker: Adventurism and Anachronism in Central America
- Nine. Fitzcarraldo: The Foreign Entrepreneurial Capitalist as Explorer
- Ten. Green Mansions: Exploring the Geographical Dimensions of Fantasy
- Eleven. The Lost City of Z: Obsession and Exploration
- Twelve. Secret of the Incas: Romanticizing the American Explorer-Archaeologist
- Thirteen. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Orellana's Revenge
- Fourteen. Embrace of the Serpent: Explorations into Deeper Meaning
- Fifteen. Anaconda: Cinematic Exploration of River-Spawned Horrors
- Sixteen. Green Fire: The Prospector as Explorer-Discoverer
- Seventeen. The Motorcycle Diaries: Exploration in Search of Reform
- Eighteen. Nostalgia for the Light: The Filmmaker as Explorer of Memory
- Nineteen. Dora and the Lost City of Gold: In Search of New Cultural Frontiers
- Conclusion: Reflections on the Changing Significance of Exploration-Discovery Films
- Chapter Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
