Transnational Orientalisms in Contemporary Spanish and Latin American Cinema

Book excerpt: The transnational representation of the "Oriental" subject, namely Arabs and Jews, Chinese and other ethnic groups that have migrated to Spain and Latin America, is now being seen anew in both literature and cinema. This book examines the new ways of seeing and interpreting both the Middle East and the East in contemporary films, in which many of the immigrants traditionally omitted from the dominant narratives are able to present the trauma, memories and violence of their exile and migration. As such, this volume explores the representation of those single and doubly marginalized groups in contemporary Spanish and Latin American cinema, analysing how films from Spain, Mexico, Chile, Brazil and Argentina portray transnational subjects from a wide spectrum of the "Orient" world, including Maghrebs from North Africa, and Palestinian, Jewish, Chinese, and Korean peoples. The old stereotypical orientalist ways of seeing these groups are beginning to change to a more authentic representation, although, in some cases, they may still reside in the subtext of films.--