ARRIERE-GARDE VERSUS AVANT-GARDE: AUDIOVISUAL ORNAMENTATION OR "MINIMALISM" AND "ABSTRACTIONISM" AS THE FEATURE FILM STYLES FOR POLITICAL COMFORMISM.
"The illusion of internalits is to believe that this microcosm is entirely autonomous, as if it existed outside of space and the force of gravity. A microcosm is relatively sheltered from external pressure and demands. The law is relatively independent of the demands of the prince and the public. Inside this universe, as I have said, specific interests and forms of capital and power develop; those possessing the rare competences that are engendered in this universe acquire an intrument of power in this universe and often beyond it. Fields, then, are the site of the production of specific forms of capital, of specific authority and rarity. They are also the site of specific power relations which are not relations of brute force between classes, as the externalists would have it, but power struggles taking the form of conflicts of competence, [even if?] ultimately there is no philosophical struggle, however abstract it may appear, that does not bear some relation to social conflict."
Pierre Bourdieu
Page 8. Lecture of 10 March 1988. The Interest in Desinterestedness. . Polity Press, 2024.
The enthralling Snorting-Man versus the pleasure of being Myself, directed by Jorge Luis Villacorta Santamato, seems to have an artistic avant-garde mindset behind it but, in a Third World country like Peru, it may be perceived as rearguard action by a political dinosaur. Is Peru such a paradise for most of the population that audiovisual ornamentation of this kind is socially needed? This is not the case for most social agents in the country, evidently, and it only would make sense if you belong to an isolated social cluster: an academic "ivory tower", an avant-garde movement, those who share a specific amount of economic capital, or any other club that does not take the social whole into account.
According to Pierre Bourdieu there is a field of producers and a field of consumers. Social agents who occupy homologus positions in each field find each other. Bourdieu does not extend the idea but from the perspective of this writer, the "capitalist market" resembles "a caste society." And Jorge Luis Villacorta Santamato is producing "audiovisual ornamentation" from a particular position within the Peruvian (and at the same time international) field of audiovisual production. Potentially, there are consumers in a similar position within the field of consumers, for example, himself! Which means that, at least, there is one consumer (who, by the way, is this writer, who watched the movie before writing this piece of film criticism.)
Looking at this circumstance from an optimistic perspective, I point out that ornaments are used in daily life and their production are thriving capitalists industries. In fact, the capitalists intend to accelerate the exchange rate of their merchandises by developing their aesthetic value (and I would add that it becomes a symbolic value, too, as well as the merchandise has symbolic value within social hierarchies) if we choose to believe the analysis developed by Wolfgang Fritz Haug in
To summarize the idea, what I am stating here is that The enthralling Snorting-Man versus the pleasure of being Myself, directed by Jorge Luis Villacorta Santamato is made for himself and his friends. If you are not him or his friends you probably won't like it. If you like it, you may be is a similar position that the one he occupies. So, in a way, you are a pretentious elitist who supports conservative narratives. If Jorge Luis Villacorta Santamato worked with Leonidas Zegarra, it was because Mr. Zegarra used to make movies in Peru and Bolivia similar to those developed in Spain under the rule of the General Francisco Franco (for example, those starring "Joselito" and films like "Marcelino, pan y vino".) And those who criticized their movies in Peru, did not do it because they were "bad" films but because they supported a particular Spanish tradition instead of supporting French Illuminism and French Rationalism within the field of film criticism. Thus, it was about political statements disguised as "film analysis."
So, from a leftist perspective, Jorge Luis Villacorta Santamato is one of those annoying guys who accept irrationality, faith, and resignation as their creed, in particular when aligned with their interests instead of following a "leftist" lead characterized by rationality, incredulity, and resistance. Making such a dumb movie truly requires having faith, being irrational, and accepting his own silliness. He seems to be happy within the position he occupies, synchronized to the capitalistic vibes that surround him.
From a formalist viewpoint, is composed of three segments:
- First segment: With a duration of JJ minutes, it is the blueprint used to build the second segment. It keeps the original recorded color, the direct sound obtained during the recording, and only has NN shots. The Snorting-Man is the protagonist. We never seem him but we have a glance at her body while leaving the shower. We do not see his face, and he is almost unnoticable if we are paying attention to what is going at the left side of the the screen for a brief moment. The snorting is a presence along the development as well as some pseudo "chamber music" for one instrument. There are several of these pieces developed by one instrument at a time whose duration varies from a couple of minutes to eight minutes approximately.
- Second segment:
- Third segment: The shortest one ( ), it is what is shown as the trailer on IMDb:
