Of how streaming platforms are changing the audiovisual space in Latin America

Abstract

ABSTRACT This essay focuses on the way streaming services participate in the production and distribution of films and series in Argentina. It is part of a more general attempt to comprehend ways in which multinational media corporations are altering the Latin American audiovisual space, given that global/local interactions have become ever more integrated. Thus, the series El marginal and El reino offer evidence to analyse the interfaces between public and private, foreign and domestic organizations that negotiated the creation and distribution of both series. They also illuminate certain aspects of the narratives (genre tropes, universalized content) that may have contributed to their international success. Substantial foreign funding and ease of availability through streaming platforms have placed otherwise obscure series at the centre of global attention. But there are foreign corporations that come to Latin America just to take advantage of inexpensive production opportunities. While they create job alternatives for local audiovisual workers, some critics are asking whether there is an audiovisual sovereignty that needs to be reclaimed, in view of the foreign intervention. Reframing such question, this work proposes that constructing a national culture through the audiovisual industry does not entail being alienated from global currents – development may depend on negotiation and integration.