Abstract
When thinking about a prism, a beam of white light being refracted into a wide range of colors comes to mind. Inspired by this image, we first began to think about this project on the precarious, taking it as a complex and multifaceted notion through which new light could be shed on the study of the cinemas produced across the Americas. While the conventional definition of the precarious is associated with scarcity and insecurity, this volume looks at the idea from a non-monolithic angle, exploring its productivity and its potential for original critical approaches, with the aim of providing new readings to these varied, rich, and complex cinemas. Historically, cinema in the Americas has been signed by a state of precariousness. Perhaps, except for the films coming out of Hollywood (an assertion that could also be challenged), this condition affects every level of filmmaking, touching on the spheres of production, distribution, and reception. Notwithstanding the growing accessibility of video and digital technologies, access to the material means of film production is still limited. Equally, questions about the precarious could be traced in cultural and archival policies, film legislation, as well as in thematic and aesthetic choices.
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Burucúa, C., Sitnisky, C. (2018). Introduction: Forms of the Precarious in the Cinemas of the Americas. In: Burucúa, C., Sitnisky, C. (eds) The Precarious in the Cinemas of the Americas. Global Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76807-6_1
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