Two decades ago, Michel De Certeau asked himself if popular culture existed outside the act that suppresses it. For centuries, the only forms of expression allowed for subalterns sectors were those explicitly approved by people who held power.

Thus, what we know as “popular literature” or “popular art” went through several stages of censorship and was put to the service of a particular strategy of construction of power. But there was always a possibility, even a minimum one, of resistence.

A visit to Cuzco can give us an interesting perspective on this strategy of finding the popular behind the officially authorized art. The Cusco painting school of XVI and XVII centuries stands out not only for its quality, but also for the quantity of particular messages placed in its paintings, many of which were anonymous.

Thus, the Virgin Mary has the shape of a mountain, the paintings abounded in suns and moons, corns and other symbols that remit to the divinities adored by the incas. Catholic church, in a certain way, tolerated this; the presence of these images facilitated the contact of the natives with the new religion and, at the same time, allowing them to worship their old pantheon.

There is a very interesting work of art, probably the most famous of the beautiful Cathedral of Cuzco. It is a particular version of the last supper, made by the cuzqueño painter Marcos Zapaa.

The painting is very special since on the table on which Jesus and his apostoles are eating lies a guinea pig (cuy, for the peruvian people), an animal typical of the peruvian highlands, and there are also some peruvian fruits such as papayas and rocotos. As you can see, the biblical history was reinterpreted in a very particular way to adapt it to the andean context. But the most controversial detail is the character of Judas in the painting. According to the Cathedral guides, the character has the face of Francisco Pizarro, the conqueror, pig breeder and murderer, responsible of the colonization process in Peru.

In a very noticeable way, Pizarro appears then as a traitor -remember his strategy to kill the inca emperor- and for this reason he represents one of the most despised figures of the catholic religion, which is precisely the one the spanish conqueror professed. Didn’t they see it? Did they see it, but also perceived that this representation would attract the local devotees? This questions are interesting, specially on the light of the scarce tolerance that the catholic church has had with opinions that didn’t match their way of perceiving the world.

Here we can go back to Certeau’s question: How do we understand this painting? As a political expression rooted on popular culture? As a strategy of popular resistence that, at the same time, was related to the evangelizing policy of the catholic church? If popular expressions cannot be interpreted -specially in the X - XIX century period- outside the works allowed by the powerful sectors, then there’s no other strategy than looking for the explanation on the delicate political unbalances that demand the exercise of certain dissents -the resistance of subordinates- as a way to legitimate the exercise of power by certain class. Understanding popular culture, then, also demands analyzing the culture of dominant classes.

By the way, despite an extensive search in the Internet, I couldn’t find a higher quality reproduction of “the last supper” by Marco Zapata, not even in the websites that describe with detail the Cathedral of Cuzco. If someone knows of a better quality image, in which details of the painting can be appreciated better, feel free to leave the link in the comments section.

In my previous trips to Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, the frequent use of buses forced me to watch the complete filmography of Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal. For some reason, those responsible of picking the movies to be displayed inside the bus, during the trip, tend to choose an action movie and, in some cases, horror or kid’s movies. My wife thinks that the responsible in this case is a male individual -bus drivers?- and that would explain the testosterone waste.

In this last trip themes didn’t change much, I got to see a Jackie Chan movie in the road Cuzco-Lima -don’t remember the name of the film, but it mixed karate and bad jokes- and one of The Rock -what’s his name, by the way?- something like The treasure of the amazon, or something, in the road Lima-Tacna. This last one deserves a few comments. Its script was the same old stupid theme: a super-athletic american goes to the brazilian forest to rescue a fellow citizen. There’s a very bad man who exploits the natives and makes them look for diamonds. Also, there’s a guerilla group -no, it’s not Colombia, it’s Brazil, yes- and a treasure that the indians left many centuries ago: a cat made of gold. No, not a puma, nor a leopard. Yes, I know that before the arrival of the spaniards there were no cats, but well. It was a movie of The Rock. Pathetic falls short.

Days before, in the Buenos Aires-Jujuy route, the bus displayed the first three parts of Home Alone, one after the other. Just when the fourth part was about to start, people started to complain and the movie stopped. The DVD must have been stored somewhere safe. The night before an “action movie” named The Tube was on. I think it was a korean film or something, but it took place in Tokio. A terrorist group takes control of a subway and threatens to blow it up if they don’t get something, don’t remember what it was. There were corrupt polititians, a good cop and bad terrorists. It was like Speed but underground. The only new thing was that at the end the hero dies. But, in general, the movie sucked.

The quote of terror was accomplished on the route Cuzco-Lima, by the american version of The Ring. It’s lame but compared to The Rock or Jackie Chan, it deserves all the awards. In the route Lima-Tacna they decided to display an animated cartoon for children, something about a piggy, absolutely impossible to watch. The funny thing -or the least funny thing, should I say- is that the bus was full of people, but there were only two children. Why do they show kid’s movies, then?

That the movies shown inside latin american buses suck is not flash news to me. In a way, I’ve gotten used to the fact. But there are a few things that have changed. Apparently, Steven Seagal and Van Damme are going down. Only one movie of the latter was displayed during the trip back to Buenos Aires. Something about a jail, I didn’t pay much attention to it, I rather read a book I bought in Peru. I was surprised not to find any Vin Diesel movie. It looks like he hasn’t made it to the list, yet.

Travelling for fifteen hours inside a bus is really boring, but if you add to this the bad movies displayed…well…you better have a good book or a discman handy. By the way, if you decide to read, you better use daylight, since 80% of reading lights inside the south american buses are broken.

And, well, if you want to travel comfortably and with everything working out fine, fly first class to Europe, huh?

In a previous post I stated my fascination, for good or bad, with Starbucks. What’s interesting about this coffee store is that it’s only subsidiaries in South America are found in Lima, Peru and Santiago de Chile, and I was really eager to check them out. It’s not unusual that they are located in Lima, a city with fewer coffee bars than cities like Buenos Aires or Montevideo. On top of this, in Argentina, local brands like The Coffee Store and Aroma -of the same company that holds the Mc Donald’s licence- have already taken the space that could have been occupied by Starbucks if it had arrived sooner.

We have to admit that they’ve done a large effort to replicate the environment of the original Starbucks, to the point that the cups and napkins are imported directly from the United States of America. I wonder how much does this raise the costs.

But once you step inside Starbucks-Lima, the differences with the american original version jump to the sight. To begin with, the location here is bigger and has more tables than in Bush land. The reason is simple: just like anywhere else in South America, people
buy coffee and stays a while in the store, talking. In America this is not the usual behavior; people are more likely to buy its cup of coffee (hence, the disposable cups) and walk away. With few excemptions, they don’t sit around, only on weekend mornings, where it is usual to find customers sipping coffee while reading the papers, sitting at the table.

The other difference is, of course, the people. While in America it is a type of business that reaches most of the population, here in South America, Starbucks’ targets the higher classes. The stores are located in the most expensive areas of the city and its public is definitely the local middle-high class. It just takes a look to the clothes they are wearing to jump to conclusions. It makes sense, the prices are relatively high for the local market. A small mocha costs around seven soles -about two american dollars- and the rest goes from ten to eighteen soles. This is not unusual in our lands; while in America Mc Donald’s are frequented at night by beggars, in Latin America it’s been a meeting point of young middle class people and almost a sign of status. It’s no surprise that something similar would happen with Starbucks, not quite chic in America, but the land of “the high” (class) in our continent.

I might have visited Starbucks-Lima, but went back home in a combi (a small, tiny bus). I will talk about the nightmare of public transport in another post.

You can find more posts and texts about Starbucks and Lima at Technorati.

In a previous post in the spanish version of this blog I stated my fascination, for good or bad, with Starbucks. What’s interesting about this coffee store is that it’s only subsidiaries in South America are found in Lima, Peru and Santiago de Chile, and I was really eager to check them out. It’s not unusual that they are located in Lima, a city with fewer coffee bars than cities like Buenos Aires or Montevideo. On top of this, in Argentina, local brands like The Coffee Store and Aroma -of the same company that holds the Mc Donald’s licence- have already taken the space that could have been occupied by Starbucks if it had arrived sooner.

We have to admit that they’ve done a large effort to replicate the environment of the original Starbucks, to the point that the cups and napkins are imported directly from the United States of America. I wonder how much does this raise the costs.

But once you step inside Starbucks-Lima, the differences with the american original version jump to the sight. To begin with, the location here is bigger and has more tables than in Bush land. The reason is simple: just like anywhere else in South America, people
buy coffee and stays a while in the store, talking. In America this is not the usual behavior; people are more likely to buy its cup of coffee (hence, the disposable cups) and walk away. With few excemptions, they don’t sit around, only on weekend mornings, where it is usual to find customers sipping coffee while reading the papers, sitting at the table.

The other difference is, of course, the people. While in America it is a type of business that reaches most of the population, here in South America, Starbucks’ targets the higher classes. The stores are located in the most expensive areas of the city and its public is definitely the local middle-high class. It just takes a look to the clothes they are wearing to jump to conclusions. It makes sense, the prices are relatively high for the local market. A small mocha costs around seven soles -about two american dollars- and the rest goes from ten to eighteen soles. This is not unusual in our lands; while in America Mc Donald’s are frequented at night by beggars, in Latin America it’s been a meeting point of young middle class people and almost a sign of status. It’s no surprise that something similar would happen with Starbucks, not quite chic in America, but the land of “the high” (class) in our continent.

I might have visited Starbucks-Lima, but went back home in a combi (a small, tiny bus). I will talk about the nightmare of public transport in another post.

You can find more posts and texts about Starbucks and Lima at Technorati.