Class Struggle, Commodity Fetishism, and Historical Materialism in the New Latin American Cinema

ABSTRACT This study examines Latin American cinema after the 2010s through the concepts of class struggle, commodity fetishism, and historical materialism. The study aims to discuss how the region's colonial legacy, neoliberal policies, and current political transformations are reproduced in cinematic narratives. The central argument of this study is that the Third Cinema tradition continues in contemporary Latin American cinema not through direct political discourse, but rather through more implicit, fragmented narratives focused on everyday life and tactics that make capitalism's invisible strategies visible. The eight films selected through purposive sampling are chosen not because of their revolutionary cinema claims, but as texts that reveal the structural inequalities and forms of domination created in late capitalism. In these films, class divisions, precarious labor, state violence, patriarchal relations, and neoliberal governance are represented through individuals' everyday experiences. These themes are reflected in the films through meta‐fetishism and alienation, family relationships, spatial arrangements, and emotional labor practices. The study suggests that beyond being an ideological apparatus, cinema offers space for critical thinking. Instead of creating a romanticized narrative of liberation, recent Latin American cinema invites viewers to reflect on the current social order by revealing the contradictions, fragilities, and limited possibilities for resistance.