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2020 - Volume 3 - Number 2

“El Infierno”: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Narco Culture in a Mexican Film

Cinthya Patricia Ronquillo Montes * cp.ronquillo.m@gmail.com * ORCID: 0000-0002-7083-3548
University of Guanajuato, Division of Social Sciences and Humanities, MEXICO

Open Journal for Studies in Arts, 2020, 3(2), 53-64 * https://doi.org/10.32591/coas.ojsa.0302.02053r
Received: 10 June 2020 ▪ Accepted: 9 October 2020 ▪ Published Online: 21 November 2020

LICENCE: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

ARTICLE (Full Text - PDF)

ABSTRACT:
The portrayal of narco culture in media has increased in recent years as a result of the War of Drugs in Latin America. This paper, based on critical discourse theory and Halliday’s (1978) Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), sheds light on the social and cultural impact of discourse found in a scene of the Mexican film “El Infierno” directed by Luis Estrada in 2010. Through the ideational and interpersonal processes, the dialogues of two speakers are analyzed. Additionally, the social impact of the discourse portrayed in the scene is discussed through Fairclough’s (1992) social theory of discourse. Findings suggest that social reality is reflected in the film through discourse as a means to develop critical thinking and reflection in the audience. 

KEY WORDS: critical discourse analysis, ideational function, interpersonal function, narco culture, film.

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR:
Cinthya Patricia Ronquillo Montes (MA student), University of Guanajuato, Division of Social Sciences and Humanities, Guanajuato, MEXICO. E-mail: cp.ronquillo.m@gmail.com.

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