A Research on the Relationship Between Film Genre and Socio-Political Events in Guatemala's Film Production

文創產業國際藝術碩士學位學程(IMCCI)

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This research explores the film production in Guatemala, since its early beginnings to the present times by categorizing the history of the last 122 years into three significant epochs of the country where socio-political events influenced in the film genre. Each epoch: Pre-Civil War, Civil War, and Post-Civil War can be studied for the effect on motion pictures. Specifically, this research attempted to examine through the comparative-historical method (CHM) the socio-political events' relationship on film genre. The focus of this research was to approach and examine archival data through comparative-historical analysis (CHA) in order to find the relationship between film genre and the socio-political events of the country within the framework of the development of a pluricultural society influenced by political decisions. The research found that the tendency of the main characteristics of documentary films produced at the very early stage of the 20th century contain cultural, traditional, religious, and folkloric attributes. Films with political propaganda character influenced by the Nazis comprehend a wide amount of documentary productions during the decades from 1930 to 1940. Romance, cultural and folkloric traditions and social behaviors are characteristics in the romance-melodramas during the decades from 1940 to 1970. Fiction, historical, and adventure characterize film production during the second half of the 20th century. At the end of the 20th century and early beginnings of the 21st century different and more film genres are adopted by national filmmakers, most of them with themes about the Civil War.