Reapropiaciones de la cultura de masas por el teatro en America Latina

This dissertation addresses the deployment of elements of mass culture in Latin American theatrical performances over the past twenty years. This period has been intersected by neoliberalism, postmodernism, and globalization. In analyzing seven plays and performances from Argentina, Chile, and Mexico, this dissertation examines the impact of these global economic forces on theatrical production and discourse. Through the analysis of seven plays and performances from Argentina, Chile, and Mexico, this dissertation focuses on the impact of global economic forces on theatrical production and discourse. The dissertation explores the use of mass culture by cultural producers and how this appropriation in turn affects theatrical discourse. Simultaneous attention to the dynamic interrelationships between cultures, mass media, and theatrical discourse allows one to approach theatrical practice anew and also to use theatrical performances to, in turn, shed light on wider cultural discourses and practices. Specifically, this dissertation demonstrates that the imaginaries constructed by and for dominant national and transnational groups condition other social groups. Furthermore, this conditioning results in specific political and cultural practices reflected by the various theatrical performances analyzed in the dissertation.;These new forms of theatrical representation are rendered possible by the present social conditions in Latin America. They are thus the product of the socioeconomic transformations of neoliberalism and globalization. The traditional understanding of aesthetics is therefore not fitted for the performances analyzed in this study since their reflection on the subject constitutes a social act enmeshed in the web of critical discourses from which the performance emerged. One can therefore find in these performances traces of the everyday cultural, social and historical mutations brought about by the free-market logic and technological advances of neoliberalism and globalization; one can furthermore gain insight from the performances on how these conditions are lived.