Cinema as Catharsis: Visual Arts & Riot
At the peak manifestation of human creativity, we attain the ability of catharsis. It brings a sense of liberation and identification, causing an emotional response that is in many ways freeing.
Much of the allure around films and visual art is their ability to communicate with us, to evoke emotion through a visual medium. An outlet for creative freedom and reflection, cinema has often been used as a tool for social change and political commentary, able to speak to audiences in more ways than one.
HERE IS A VERY USUAL MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE VERY OLD WORD CATHARSIS… [AS IT WAS] USED BY ARISTOTLE [IT] MEANS TRANSFORM[ING] EMOTIONS INTO THINKING. AND THIS IS WHAT WE ARE LUCKY TO DO WITH FILMS
- JEAN-MICHEL FRODON
I still have a vivid memory of crying the first time I watched Ratatouille as a child, shedding tears for a misunderstood rat accidentally estranged from his family. There is no denying that films make us feel things emotionally.
Therefore, it is so notable when cinema is used as a tool for social change, as a way of reflecting on the struggles and pains of communities and generations at large.
Let’s take Superocheros, a cinematic counterculture group in ’70s Mexico that challenged the ideologies of the state and expressed their grievances in 8 mm film. It was a movement that could be considered the beginning of Independent Cinema Mexico.
Its inception can be traced back to the Tlatelolco Massacre in 1968, when the Mexican Armed forces opened fire on groups of unarmed protestors, murdering hundreds.
Soon after this bloodbath, young university students sought to capture their anger through filmmaking, and what is now known as the Superochero movement.
The peculiarity of this movement lies in its rejection of all previous traditional Mexican cinema and its so-called Golden Age. It captured the vision of countercultural issues from an alternative youth position.
Often showcased in underground clubs or bars, these films sought to capture the worst of the Mexican regime. Its format made it hard to censor and easily accessible to anyone who wanted to participate.
For two decades, superocheros served as one of the focal points of Mexican counterculture, marking a new era of sexual and social liberation, showcasing themes such as drug use and sex in ways that had yet to be done.
WHERE THE COUNTERCULTURE WAS FULLY REALIZED WAS IN THE SUPEROCHEROS MILLIMETER CINEMA, WHICH IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE SEVENTIES EXCITED YOUNG PEOPLE BECAUSE OF ITS LOW COST AND BECAUSE IT EVADED CENSORSHIP; FOR THAT REASON, THROUGH THE SUPEROCHEROS WE SAW A DIFFERENT MEXICO, TRUER FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE
– JOSÉ AGUSTÍN
Movies like Materia Nupcial (1974) played with eroticism, in this case telling the story of a woman with a “jabbed” vagina, causing the impotence of her lover.
Or Ah, verda? (1973) which told the story of a couple that while smoking weed puts bombs in the Monumento a la Revolución, the PRI headquarters, and the U.S. embassy.
And although their political commentary was at times subtle, what they all had in common was a lack of censorship and chastity, outlining a movement made by young people for young people.
There are plenty of examples in which cinema was used as a way of conveying and capturing the grievances of a generation, el cine de destape in Spain or the French New Wave in the 50s and 60s, just to name a few.
YOU SEE SOMETHING THAT EXCITES YOU OR ENRAGES YOU WHILE WATCHING SOMETHING OUTSIDE OF YOURSELF, AND THAT SPURS YOU TO BECOME MORE ENGAGED. CINEMA HAS THE ABILITY TO CHANGE SOMEONE’S PERSPECTIVE
- BRITTANY DOBISH, DIRECTOR OF THE NIGHTLIGHT CINEMA.