This book explores violence in Latin America societies and its social representations in cinema. Just as mass media can legitimize and reproduce patterns and discourses of discrimination, they can also serve to raise awareness and change minds about social issues such as violence and thus enhance citizen participation in social change. This book explores how Latin American cinema portrays its diverse societies, offering theoretical perspectives and research methods for analysing film narratives within their social contexts. The book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the global logics of production and social reproduction of violence in a twentieth-century context, and it discusses issues of civilisation — barbarism and decolonisation in the Global South. It demonstrates that the visibility of violence and vulnerable groups on the screen can make an impact far beyond academia, shaping public opinion regarding these issues and influencing the audiences. It speaks to social sciences academics and researchers specialising in Latin American studies, media psychology, film studies, and cultural criminology.

Maylen Villamañan Alba obtained her Doctorate of Criminology at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium, and her Doctorate of Sociology at Universidad Central de Las Villas (UCLV), Cuba. She holds a master's degree in Social and Community Psychology. She is also Associate Professor of Social Psychology, Communication Theory, Cuban Audiovisuals, Prevention and Cultural Sociology at the Universidad Central de Las Villas.