Chilean youth in documentary cinema of the Popular Unity years: representation and reception in the film Descomedidos y Chascones (1973) Chilean youth in documentary cinema of the Popular Unity years: representation and reception in the film Descomedidos y Chascones (1973)

Abstract

The article reviews the representations of the Chilean youth in the “Unidad Popular” period in the film “Descomedidos y Chascones” (1973), one of the first documentary feature films that is focused into this historical subject. The cinematographic piece is analyzed according to the socio-historical implications that give it shape, that are determined by the election and presidency  of Salvador Allende; as well as the rise and development of the Escuela de Cine Experimental de la Universidad de Chile in the same period. On the other hand, an intertextual analysis is carried out to give account of the different representations and perceptions that are articulated through the interactive opposition of classes: the proletarian youth and the bourgeois youth. Also, in a series of style decisions that bet on narrative and cinematographic resources are discussed. These resources are inspired in mass culture, which seduce, but also challenge and disrupt the viewer perspective, with the aim of achieving a de-infantilized, critical reception, by generating a mobilizing experience. In conclusion, the work of Carlos Flores shows a point of view of great analytical value, both for the way in which Chilean youth is represented in the times of the Popular Unity in the film, as well as for its novel and original staging, which accounts for the political and aesthetic implications that will characterize fiction and non-fiction cinema of the time.

Chilean cinema

Documentary film

Youth

Unidad Popular