Deviations and Displacements of Motherhood: On Ana Katz’s "Mi amiga del parque" (2015)

Abstract

Drawing upon gender studies, feminist theory, and film analysis, we examine Mi amiga del parque (Ana Katz, 2015) with the aim of investigating how film genres are questioned as part of a critique of class and gender relations. We argue that the feminist mark of Katz’s cinema brings about an attitude which is akin to the act of listening: it does not promote a lecture-like verbiage, but amplifies a keen perception of social repetition processes. The film’s anticipatory position not only rejects univocal, closed, self-contained or propaganda-like rhetoric, but also contributes to the extremely vital presentation of structural and ideological conflicts expressed in family and social contradictions, starting with the relationships between women. Our conclusions show the profound innovation regarding genres linked to the positing of new gender relations that resist patriarchal capitalist ties.

Keywords

• contemporary argentine cinema
• gender
• motherhood
• comedy
• friendship