The Case of Cronos: A Study of Familial Resilience and Transnational Political Critique

Resilience as a trope is often associated with the neoliberal ideal of individualized personal success, an ideal that is frequently used to deny the existence of structural oppression (Phipps, 2014). Analyzing cultural artefacts, however, can offer a reappraisal of how publics understand resilience in relation to neoliberal economic policy. In this paper, I analyze a 1993 film by Guillermo del Toro, titled Cronos, to understand how resilience can be presented as familial rather than individual, as well as the trickiness of using film to critique neoliberalism while under the influence of state agencies. In examining Cronos, I argue that the inherent (Mexican) goodness of the protagonist’s family, and the inherent (Euro-American) badness of the antagonist’s family, presents an alternative view of resilience and progress. According to Cronos, maintaining familial bonds is true resilience, while the progress offered by transnational outsiders is vampiric, doomed to a cycle of consumption and death.