Of Godfathers and Markets: The Politics of (the) American Gangster

Abstract

espanolEste articulo analiza en profundidad la pelicula American Gangster (2007) como reinterpretacion del cine de gansteres en clave neoliberal. Desarrollando una metodologia basada en estudios culturales y de genero cinematografico, sostengo que la pelicula revisita temas e imagenes troncales del cine de gansteres bajo la influencia de la ideologia neoliberal y abordando ciertas visiones y fenomenos vinculados a la acumulacion capitalista, como el Keynesianismo, el libertarismo o la relacion entre las esferas estatal y privada. Existe abundante produccion academica centrada en el capitalismo neoliberal y su afianzamiento como el sistema politico y economico hegemonico de nuestro tiempo. Sin embargo, los estudios de cine aun no han abordado exhaustivamente la representacion del neoliberalismo en el cine. Es mas, se observa una importante escasez de investigacion sobre la posible plasmacion cinematografica del neoliberalismo con atencion a especificidades de genero. American Gangster se presenta como una pelicula particularmente idonea para tratar todas esas cuestiones de manera unificada y cohesiva. EnglishThis article closely examines the film American Gangster (2007) as a reinterpretation of the gangster film in light of neoliberalism. Deploying a critical framework underpinned by cultural and film genre studies, I argue the film revisits key tropes and themes of the gangster film by drawing substantially on neoliberal ideology and by addressing certain worldviews and phenomena concerning capitalist accumulation, such as Keynesianism, libertarianism and the relation between the state and private spheres. A wealth of scholarly literature has accrued that probes neoliberal capitalism as the hegemonic economic and political system of our time. However, film studies has yet to comprehensively take up the study of neoliberalism. Additionally, whether there are genre specificities in the way neoliberalism has been translated into film is a significantly underexplored area of research. American Gangster constitutes a particularly appropriate film to cohesively and unitarily tackle all those questions.