Roberto Arlt y el cine

Abstract

In 1936 Arlt wrote some film notes for the newspaper El Mundo. But in comparison with contemporary critics, Arlt’s notes are of little interest as he only mentions the fabula and says nothing about the sujet. Nevertheless the critic will discover an important aspect in his novels concerning the influence of cinema on his characters. On the one hand, we find the typical juvenile delinquent who imitates American gangsters as seen in US movies; on the other hand, there are the sterile middle class characters, without any intellectual or social interest whatsoever who try to overcome their boredom dreaming about Hollywood myths or even try to become actors themselves. Last but not least, one should not forget that Arlt was probably the first Argentine writer to understand the effect of the film industry on the masses, making the Astrologer exploit this media in his «revolutionary» project.