Celluloid Post-Indigenism: The Deconstruction of the Indigenous Imaginary in Claudia Llosa's Films

Abstract

This article argues that while Peruvian filmmaker Claudia Llosa's films Madeinusa (2005) and La teta asustada (The Milk of Sorrow) (2009) successfully capture the emancipation of their female main character, such an assertive feminist stance doesn't tally with an inner and liberating outlook to the Quechua world both characters - Madeinusa and Fausta - belong to. Through longstanding stereotypes that both films strive to overcome, an indigenista distant and condescending view from the 19th century prevails in them.