War on drugs and ideology: the illegal cocaine industry through the cinematic perspective

Abstract

Objective: To identify the ideological discourse on narcotrafficking in the Americas expressed by documentaries and the values that, based on them, are accepted as a portrayal of reality. Method: We performed a film analysis (Medina, 2020) of 4 documentaries produced from 2017 to 2020, available on the Netflix streaming service, that address the illegal cocaine industry in the American continent. Theoretical Framework: From Mészáros (2004), we understand that the dominant ideological system presents the rules whereby human beings understand, deal with, and act in the world in order to solve social conflicts. Results: In the films, the relationship between the high drug consumption in the USA and the respective drug manufacturing in Latin countries is based on the production of two antagonistic imaginaries: a positive one about the USA, and a negative one about Latin countries involved in drug trafficking, which unfolds in the formation of the victim-villain-hero triad that legitimizes the common consent of American interventions in the war against drugs and its victims, regardless of their nationalities. Conclusions: The selectivity in the depiction regarding the appearance of the narcotrafficking phenomenon in different countries demonstrates a favorable dichotomy to the capitalist order, breeding a fetishized collective subjectivity that hinders class consciousness.

Keywords

• ideologia
• filme documentário
• tráfico de drogas
• cocaína
• américa latina