Affect, Authenticity, and Film

• In Event: Form as Praxis: Aesthetics, Affect, and Dialogue in Comparative & International Education

Proposal

The call for employing concepts associated with Affect Theory to re-imagine the nature of comparison within CIE is longstanding (Epstein, 2019), and a case has also been made for using film study to promote more authentic modes of representation, more closely investigate the dynamic relationship between author/creator and audience, and shed light upon under-appreciated forms of interconnectivity as they relate to human and non-human entities (Epstein, 2024). However, in recognizing the need to confront the spread of fascism and its nefarious effects, the examination of alternative ways that the CIE field can contribute to such resistance has become more than an intellectual prerogative; it has become a moral imperative. Above all, the more generic use of hierarchical categorization, an obsession with accountability measurement, and a black box attitude toward educational interaction in its broadest sense, is visible not only among right wing ideologues, but is evident within some traditional CIE discourses as well, even the intended reasons for its usage within the CIE field may have been more benign.
Can an examination of film, contextualized as part of CIE, offer the promise of a more robust response to the spread of global fascism that we are currently experiencing? I propose to comment upon Patricio Guzman’s film, My Imaginary Country (2022), and Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne’s Netflix television series, “Adolescence,” (2025), as a way of initiating such a discussion. My Imaginary Country documents the Chilean mass movement to rewrite the country’s constitution, a remaining legacy of the Pinochet regime. Pinochet today remains a revered figure of the radical right; his use of torture and terror to eliminate political opponents has been applauded. Guzman, in My Imaginary Country, not only notes the historical legacy of the Pinochet regime in shaping contemporary Chile, but views the youthful idealism of the proponents of the new constitution as reaffirming the democratic socialist principles of those who sacrificed their lives in opposition to the Pinochet coup and the ensuing dictatorial regime. Their efforts, of course ultimately were unsuccessful, as the move to adopt the new constitution failed to receive majority popular support, with guarantees of academic freedom, indigenous land rights, and women’s rights, embedded within the new constitution, dying as a result. The film demands that we appreciate the lasting legacies of authoritarianism, and asks us to consider whether the educative function within mass mobilization efforts is ever enough to compensate for years of institutional fragility and dissolution.
Adolescence, a four part television mini-series, set in the United Kingdom, focuses upon a thirteen year old boy, accused of murdering a female classmate. In portraying his interactions with family members, social media, the police, school, the community, and members of the juvenile justice system, we see pervasive institutional failure in normalizing the toxic masculinity that has become a part of his evolving identity. The series graphically illustrates the inner fear and anger that fuels toxic masculinity, which has become an ongoing performative script within right wing ecosystems.
Together, these examples help identify the larger questions worth considering.

Author

• Irving Epstein, Illinois Wesleyan University