The Dynamics of Physical and Symbolic Borders in Transcultural Space in A Better Life (2011): Its Impact on Intersubjective Relations and Cultural Transformation

Abstract

The present work purports to analyse the dynamics with which the various physical and symbolic borders present in the film A Better Life (2011), directed by Chris Weitz, interact and have a mutual impact with a set of specific consequences. The film contains a complex, ambiguous, and protean representation of the transcultural experiences of a Mexican illegal alien and his Chicano son in the American cross-border territory. The analysis rests on two main theoretical pillars: the Semiotics of Culture and anthropological/cultural studies of a “post-optimistic” stage in Borderlands Theory. From the perspective of the former, I attempt to ferret out meanings on the basis of the polyglottic construction characteristic of the film medium as well as account for processes of interpersonal and cultural transformations in a set of given semiospheres represented in the film, among other important notions. From the point of view of the latter, I approach the dilemmas and conflicts—both inter-subjective and cultural—linked to a borderlands experience with territorial and metaphoric limits exacerbated by a strong circulation of power. The study shows that, as a thinking device, this artistic text develops semiosis which causes it, in the final analysis, to abstain from interrogating the various bordering processes—if not openly legitimise them. Accordingly, the film confirms Lotman’s concept of the semiotic heterogeneity of all semiospheres and the inexhaustible production of meaning of any artistic text.