| Abstract: | This article claims that Santiago Mitre's 2011 film El estudiante stages a confrontation regarding the notions of politics and activism that polarize Argentina in the Kirchner era (and arguably Latin America in the so-called New Left in general). The mixture of documentary and fiction and the filmic images' particular combination of indexical and symbolic components unveil a tension between a practical notion that considers politics to be the result of either gestión or emotions, and an ideal notion that sees politics as a series of principles and concepts and sees activism as a morally subordinate sphere. Thus, on the one hand, the article breaks with a monolithic view of politics and activism during Kirchnerismo, unpacking a confrontation that can resignify these concepts. On the other, it helps to further understand how the mixture of documentary and fiction, which is quite typical in new Argentine cinema, can be read ideologically. |
