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Beyond the obvious critiques of capitalism, what Latin American literary or cinematic works explore the more intimate, psychological, or cultural dimensions of money?

My research focuses on the cultural anthropology of money. I'm less interested in macro-economic critique and more in how money shapes personal relationships, aspirations, and self-perception. Are there novels or films that delve into the experience of debt, the shame of poverty, the allure of consumerism, or the complex ties between money and honor (dignidad)? Think of stories about social climbers, bankrupt aristocrats, or remittance economies. I want works where money is a character in the human drama.

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By Batte Answered 1 year ago

For the intimate anthropology of money, these works are exceptional:
Literature:
Juan Rulfo, Pedro Páramo (1955) – wealth (the hacienda) is fused with patriarchal power, ghostly debt, and the corruption of an entire town's soul.
Samantha Schweblin, Fever Dream (2014) – uses a haunting, economic allegory of pesticide use and land exploitation to explore maternal anxiety and "toxic debt."
Valeria Luiselli, Lost Children Archive (2019) – ties a family's dissolution to broader economies of migration and the "debt" of history.
Film:
"La Familia" (2017), dir. Gustavo Rondón Córdova – a powerful Venezuelan film where a father's desperate attempts to provide in a collapsing economy drive a tragic wedge between him and his son.
"Heli" (2013), dir. Amat Escalante – brutally links personal desire for consumer goods (a motorcycle) to the catastrophic violence of the drug economy.
"Cochochi" (2007), dir. Israel Cárdenas & Laura Amelia Guzmán – a gentle, neorealist tale of two Indigenous brothers in the Sierra Tarahumara, where a small amount of lost money triggers a profound journey.
These works treat money not as an abstraction but as a force that twists love, ambition, and identity.

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