Resumen de Unorthodox homes in Pablo Trapero's "Leonera" (2008) and "El Clan" (2015): shattered lives, political selves
Pablo Trapero's directorship and production-related projects continuously reinforce his prolific presence and cultural importance on national and international levels. His filmography thus far-Mundo grita (1999), El bonaerense (2002), Familia rodante (2004), Nacido y criado (2006), Leonera (2008), Carancho (2010), Elefante blanco (2012), El clan (2015), and La quietud (2018)-is as diverse thematically as it is aesthetically multifaceted. Although they tackle it differently, El clan and Leonera share a common theme, for they feature broken homes in literal and emotional ways. At the same time, the fragmentation of what might be considered relatively typical family homes in Leonera and El clan is accompanied by the subtle formation, with different degrees of success, of alternative home settings. By spotlighting places and spaces that are typically viewed as uncommon, unsafe, or hostile to home-like possibilities-namely, prisons, wilderness settings, and athletic clubs-this essay conceptualizes the notion of unorthodox homes as a mode of political commitment in Leonera and El clan. The emergence of unorthodox homes in Trapero's films stems from his protagonists' rebellions against what has constituted their homes in culturally normative ways. Consequently, the manifestation of unorthodox homes can be viewed as a mode of political commitment precisely since it challenges the ways in which the films' protagonists expressed their sense of self initially, pushing them to reimagine their socioemotional relations within and toward distinct home-like places frequently and in agenţie ways. More importantly, unorthodox homes in these two films are intimately linked to the inevitable multi-directionality of one's identity, particularly if we recall Iris M. Young's discussions of the interconnection of identity and home in Intersecting Voices: Dilemmas of Gender, Political Philosophy, and Policy. Building on Young's observation about the relationships home, identity, and politics can engender, this essay examines unorthodox homes as territories for protagonists' inter-relational recalibrations of social and emotional belongingness, which then facilitate their political possibilities in direct or subtle ways.
