Don’t Step Across This Line: Crossing Borders in Little Men
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14198/raei.2023.39.07Keywords:
border film, borderland, Little Men, Ira Sachs, cosmopolitanismAbstract
This article explores the role of borders in contemporary cities and their implications in social stratification in Ira Sachs’ Little Men (2016). Drawing on border theory and its application to film studies, it first situates the movie within the category of the “border film”, insofar as it focuses on New York urban borders and borderlands as a thematic element; and it uses borders narratively in order to explore the social and racial dynamics between an Anglo family—the Jardines—and their Latino tenants—the Calvellis. From this approach, it then explores the narrative and aesthetic strategies by which the film represents the conflict between the families in terms of a simultaneous process of border building— in the case of the adults—and border crossing—in the case of the children. It ultimately contends that the film, by reaffirming the border between the children in the epilogue, questions the notion of equality that underlies the essentially neoliberal myth of the American Dream.
References
ABU-ASSAD, Hany, dir. 2005. Paradise Now. Palestine, France and Germany: Augustus Film, Lama Productions and Razor Film Produktion GmbH.
ABU-ASSAD, Hany, dir. 2013. Omar. Palestine: ZBROS.
ANDERSON, Elijah. 2004. "The Cosmopolitan Canopy". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 595: 14-31. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716204266833
ANZALDÚA, Gloria. 1987. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books.
AZCONA, María del Mar. 2013. "The Boy Next Door: Transnational Identity in Gran Torino". Transnational Cinemas 4 (1): 25-41. https://doi.org/10.1386/trac.4.1.25_1
BRAMBILLA, Chiara. 2015. "Exploring the Critical Potential of the Borderscapes Concept". Geopolitics 20 (1): 14-34. https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2014.884561
BEN AMARA, Radhouan. 2011. "Frontiers and Thresholds in Rushdie's Writings". Between 1 (1): 1-15.
BLOMKAMP, Neil, dir. 2009. District 9. South Africa and USA: TriStar Pictures, Block Hanson and WingNut Films.
CARPIGNANO, Jonas, dir. 2015. Mediterranea. Italy, France and USA: Audax Films, Court 13 Pictures and DCM Productions.
COIXET, Isabel, dir. 2014. Learning to Drive. USA and UK: Broad Green Pictures, Lavender Pictures and Core Pictures.
COOPER, Anthony and Chris Rumford. 2013. "Monumentalising the Order: Bordering Through Connectivity". Mobilities 8 (1): 107-124. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2012.747761
CRENSHAW, Kimberlé. 1991. "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color." Stanford Law Review 43 (6): 1241-1299. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039
DEBRUGE, Peter. "Film Review: Little Men".
DELEYTO, Celestino. 2017. "Looking from the Border: A Cosmopolitan Approach to Contemporary Cinema". Transnational Cinemas 8 (2): 95-112. https://doi.org/10.1080/20403526.2016.1168117
EASTWOOD, Clint, dir. 2008. Gran Torino. USA: Warner Bros.
ELLIOTT, Nicholas. 2016. "Interview with Ira Sachs". Cahiers du Cinéma 27 (September): 36-38.
FISHER, Mark. 2009. Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Winchester: Zero Books.
FOJAS, Camilla. 2011. "Hollywood Border Cinema: Westerns with a Vengeance". Journal of Popular Film and Television 39 (2): 93-101. https://doi.org/10.1080/01956051.2010.484037
GONZÁLEZ IÑÁRRITU, Alejandro, dir. 2006. Babel. USA, and México: Paramount Pictures.
HAGGIS, Paul, dir. 2004. Crash. USA: Lionsgate.
HEIDE, Markus. 2013. "Cosmopolitics in Border Film: Amores Perros (2000) and Sleep Dealer (2008)". Comparative American Studies: An International Journal 11 (1): 89-108. https://doi.org/10.1179/1477570012Z.00000000028
HUNT, Courtney, dir. 2008. Frozen River. USA: Cohen Media Group, Frozen River Pictures and Harwood Hunt Productions
JONES, Tommy Lee, dir. 2005. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. USA: Sony Pictures.
KAURISMÄKI, Aki, dir. 2011. Le Havre. Finland and France: Sputnik and Pyramide Productions.
LEE, Ang, dir. 2005. Brokeback Mountain. USA: Focus Features.
LIORET. Philippe, dir. 2009. Welcome. France: Nord-Ouest Films.
MANZANAS CALVO, Ana María, ed. 2007a. Border Transits: Literature and Culture across the Line. Amsterdam: Rodopi. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789401204774
MANZANAS CALVO, Ana María. 2007b. "Circles and Crosses: Reconsidering Lines of Demarcation." In Manzanas Calvo 2007a, 9-34.
MCCARTHY, Tom, dir. 2007. The Visitor. USA: Groundswell Productions, Next Wednesday Productions and Participant Productions.
MEZZADRA, Sandro and Brett Neilson. 2013. Border as Method. Durham: Duke University Press.
NAVARRO, Sandra. 2017. "The Silent Other in Contemporary Border Cinema: The Latino Figure in No Country for Old Men and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada". Lat Stud 15 (3): 309-22. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41276-017-0071-1
ROSI, Gianfranco, dir. 2016. Fire at Sea. Italy: Stemal Entertainment and 21 Unofilm.
ROVISCO, María. 2013. "Towards a Cosmopolitan Cinema: Understanding the Connection Between Borders, Mobility and Cosmopolitanism in the Fiction Film." Mobilities 8 (1): 148-65. https://doi.org/10.1080/17450101.2012.747774
RUSHDIE, Salman. 2003. "Step Across This Line". Step Across This Line: Collected Non-Fiction 1992-2002. London: Vintage Books. 407-442.
SACHS, Ira, dir. 2016. Little Men. USA: Race Point Films and Magnolia Pictures.
SCHIMANSKI, Johan. 2006. "Crossing and Reading: Notes towards a Theory and a Method". Nordlit 10 (1): 41-63. https://doi.org/10.7557/13.1835
SCHIMANSKI, Johan, and Stephen F. Wolfe, eds. 2017. Border Aesthetics: Concepts and Intersections. New York: Berghahn. https://doi.org/10.7557/13.1835
SCHIMANSKI, Johan, and Jopi Nyman, eds. 2021a. Border Images, Border Narratives: The Political Aesthetics of Boundaries and Crossings. Manchester: Manchester UP. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvw048vh
SCHIMANSKI, Johan, and Jopi Nyman. 2021b. "Introduction: Images and Narratives on the Border." In Schimanski and Nyman 2021a, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526146274
SHERIDAN, Taylor, dir. 2017. Wind River. USA and UK: Acacia Filmed Entertainment and Savvy Media Holdings.
STILL, Judith. 2010. Derrida and Hospitality: Theory and Practice. Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748644506
VILLENEUVE, Denis, dir. 2015. Sicario. USA: Lionsgate.
VILLENEUVE. Denis, dir. 2016. Arrival. USA: Paramount Pictures.
WEITZ, Chris, dir. 2011. A Better Life. USA: Summit Entertainment.
Downloads
Statistics
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Andrés Buesa
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.