The fiction of cultural inclusion in Hollywood movies: Babel and the reproduction of cultural stereotypes

Abstract

From the perspective of the cultural studies, this article presents an interpretative textual analysis focused on the drama film Babel, in which four societies and cultures are intertwined in a realist and contemporary context. This critically acclaimed film from 2006 was directed and written by two Mexican citizens but produced and distributed to the world from Hollywood. The objective is to extract the images and main characteristics of the representation of the Mexican, American, Japanese, and Moroccan societies and citizens. Then it is debated if those representations and the discourses that are built through the argument of the film function to reinforce or defy cultural, ethnic, and linguistic stereotypes that exist in the United States about the other societies, supporting dominant political interests.