Modernity at the Movies - (Illuminations) by Camila Gatica Mizala (Hardcover)

About the Book

A Methodological Study of Going to the Movies as Cultural and Societal Practice

Book Synopsis

Cinema can both reflect the world as it is and offer escape from it. In Modernity at the Movies, Camila Gatica Mizala explores the ideas of reflection versus escapism and examines how modes of understanding the current moment emerged through the practice of going to the movies in Santiago and Buenos Aires between 1915 and 1945. Using cinema and variety magazines published in both cities, she analyzes the technology, architecture, attendance, behavior, language, censorship, and overall experience of cinema-going. These publications regularly engaged with important topics such as morality and urbanization and helped build a cinematographic audience. Gatica Mizala brings together the perception and reception of cinema as a modern art form, shifting the focus from the production of films to the experience of the audience when viewing them. By focusing on the audience instead of the films, this study is able to articulate the ways that cinema, as a modern activity, was incorporated into everyday life and discuss what it meant to be modern in early to midcentury Latin America.

Review Quotes

A welcome contribution to studies of multiple modernities and urban history, as Mizala's goal is to analyze how social and cultural dynamics unfolded in the cinema affected the everyday lives of people living in these two Latin American capitals.-- "Journal of Social History"

It is not an exaggeration to say that there are such revelations on almost every page. [Modernity at the Movies] will be of interest to scholars in the field and will undoubtedly suggest many avenues for future research.-- "Hispanic American Historical Review"

Modernity at the Movies constitutes a contribution to the global history of technology as it shifts attention from the context of technical innovation to the appropriation process. It narrates the story of motion pictures with a unique twist: the protagonists are not the Parisians at the Lumière brothers' first screenings but the inhabitants of the dynamic capital cities of a distant yet interconnected southern Latin America.-- "Technology and Culture"

The strength of this book is how it brings new material to the table. An examination of the materials that flesh out cinematic life in Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile is extremely useful and fascinating to watch develop.--Jeffrey Middents, American University

This book provides a comprehensive overview of film consumption during the early twentieth century in the cities of Santiago and Buenos Aires. Offering nuanced detail about audiences, screenings, and neighborhoods, it also reveals how municipal governments appealed to public decency via cinema as a way to discipline potentially unruly new citizens. Gatica Mizala offers an original interpretation of early national film economies and an excellent side-by-side comparison of these two cities' film cultures.--Jessica Stites Mor, University of British Columbia

About the Author

Camila Gatica Mizala is assistant professor at Universidad de Chile's Department of Historical Sciences, where she teaches modules on contemporary history of the Americas and images in Latin American history. Her research focuses on film reception in urban contexts and cultural diplomacy.