Japanese cinema as cultural diplomacy in Spanish-speaking Latin America : epistemic communities and film interpretation beyond exceptionalist discourses

Veloza-Franco, Daniel (author)

While epistemic communities have traditionally been examined in security and policy advice, in this paper I argue that film critics, curators, academics and cultural organiz­ers likewise form epistemic communities in film diplomacy, whose interpretative frame­works shape international understandings of state-sponsored screenings of Japanese films abroad. These communities do not seek to shape policy outcomes, but instead they pro­vide interpretative frameworks and infuse cultural products with meaning. Although such epistemic communities on film diplomacy exist globally, I focus on the concrete case of Japan’s film diplomacy in the Spanish-speaking Latin American context and on five films: Rashōmon, Akira, Spirited Away, Sonatine and Shoplifters. Despite persistent and valid criticism of Japan’s official cultural promotion for its heavy reliance on exoticist and essentialist discourses, I show that regional epistemic communities move beyond these constraints. I demonstrate how and why official Japanese narratives that promote unified and exoticized portrayals of Japan coexist with more nuanced and critical local Latin American interpretations. These local epistemic communities reveal the tensions inherent in institutional cultural promotion and sometimes challenge simplistic official readings by highlighting social and political issues and interweaving the films with global concerns such as poverty, consumerism, authoritarianism and existential anxieties. In doing so, Latin American epistemic communities offer audiences richer opportunities for cross‑cultural dialogue based on shared concerns that are not uniquely Japanese. This interpretative plurality, driven by their work, both complicates Japan’s cultural promo­tion and enhances its credibility, fostering deeper and more critical intercultural dialogue instead of superficial exoticized consumption.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Japan in Latin America, epistemic communities, anime, film diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, cross-cultural dialogue
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 201-237
• Numbering: Vol. 14, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-190559
• ISSN on article: 2232-5131
• DOI: 10.4312/as.2026.14.2.201-237
• Publication date in RUL: 05.11.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Asian studies = Azijske študije
• Publisher: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2232-5131
• COBISS.SI-ID: 265206272

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Japonski film kot kulturna diplomacija v špansko govoreči Latinski Ameriki : epistemične skupnosti in filmska interpretacija onkraj diskurzov o izjemnosti

Abstract

Medtem ko epistemične skupnosti običajno proučujemo na področju varnosti in poli­tičnega svetovanja, v tem članku zagovarjam stališče, da tudi filmski kritiki, kuratorji, akademiki in kulturni organizatorji tvorijo epistemične skupnosti v filmski diplomaciji, katerih interpretativni okviri oblikujejo mednarodna razumevanja državno sponzoriranih projekcij japonskih filmov v tujini. Te skupnosti si ne prizadevajo vplivati na oblikovanje politik, temveč zagotavljajo interpretativne okvire in kulturnim produktom pripisujejo pomen. Čeprav takšne epistemične skupnosti na področju filmske diplomacije obstaja­jo po vsem svetu, se osredotočam na konkreten primer japonske filmske diplomacije v špansko govorečem latinskoameriškem kontekstu ter na pet filmov: Rašomon, Akira, Ču­dežno potovanje, Sonatina in Tatiči. V članku razkrijem, da kljub vztrajni in utemeljeni kritiki uradne japonske kulturne promocije zaradi njenega močnega zanašanja na eksoti­zirajoče in esencialistične diskurze pokažem regionalne epistemične skupnosti presegajo te omejitve. Pokažem, kako in zakaj uradni japonski narativi, ki promovirajo poenotene ter eksotizirane podobe Japonske, sobivajo z bolj niansiranimi in kritičnimi lokalnimi latinskoameriškimi interpretacijami. Te lokalne epistemične skupnosti razkrivajo nape­tosti, ki so neločljivo povezane z institucionalno kulturno promocijo, in občasno izziva­jo poenostavljena uradna branja s tem, da izpostavljajo družbene in politične probleme ter filme povezujejo z globalnimi temami, kot so revščina, potrošništvo, avtoritarnost in eksistencialne tesnobe. S tem latinskoameriške epistemične skupnosti občinstvu ponujajo bogatejše možnosti za medkulturni dialog, ki temelji na skupnih vprašanjih, ki niso zna­čilna izključno za Japonsko. Ta interpretativna pluralnost, ki jo spodbuja njihovo delo, hkrati zapleta japonsko kulturno promocijo in krepi njeno verodostojnost, saj spodbuja globlji in bolj kritičen medkulturni dialog namesto površinske eksotizirane potrošnje.

• Keywords: Japonska v Latinski Ameriki, epistemične skupnosti, anime, filmska diplomacija, kulturna diplomacija, medkulturni dialog