The Young, the Damned, and the Restless: Youth in Contemporary Mexican Cinema

Abstract

Over the past decade a growing field of research in the United States has focused on youth, film, and youth cultures.These studies have been driven by many factors, including increased awareness of young adults as an important niche market 2 and debates over youthful "deviance" (whether measured in terms of the supposedly anti-social lyrics of rap, violence in the schools, or the nihilism of Gen-Xers).By analyzing the filmic representation of young adults and their role as consumers, these studies explore ways in which cinematic portrayals confirm or resist dominant youth discourses and ways in which young people respond.Similar studies in Latin America have been scarce, despite the recent proliferation of films about young adults.The "New Argentine Cinema" has produced many intimate tales about the young in low-budget works like Pizza birra faso/Pizza, Beer, and Cigarettes (Adrián Caetano and Bruno Stagnaro, 1997) and Nadar solo/Swimming Alone (Ezequiel Acuña, 2002) as well as in more commercial films about middle-class youth like No sabe, no contesta/Doesn't Know, Doesn't Respond (Fernando Musa, 2002).Colombian director Víctor Gaviria's films on marginalized youth (Rodrigo D: No futuro, 1990 and La vendedora de rosas/The Rose Seller, 1998) have won international acclaim.In Mexico the growth in youth cinema can be traced to the 1980s, when the media conglomerate Televisa began to produce films with already

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