Remembering the Future, Unraveling the Mystery: Science Fiction as Collective Memory in Postdictatorship Argentina

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Science fiction film production has grown in Argentina since the late twentieth century. While in North America the genre has been concerned with the future, postdictatorship Argentinean science fiction investigates a past riddled with mysteries and memories, presenting a cautionary tale of what will happen if the country's history falls into oblivion. Through analysis of postdictatorship films, I show how Argentinean science fiction's deep historical ties and its use of detecting qualities associated with crime thrillers help to unravel the traumatic mysteries of the past. This article challenges characterizations of genres as ahistorical, showing that different production contexts yield shifts and disruptions in addition to continuities.