ABSTRACT
Guided by the three-domain framework developed in Chapter 2, this chapter examines the effects of Cuban revolutionary films in formulating a system of knowledge about political participation during a key moment of Cuba’s social revolution and emergence of politics in the post-revolutionary period. The aim is to understand the extent to which these revolutionary films constitute authentic political expressions by filmmakers for their audience in that context and what it means for political participation in Cuba today. This chapter suggests that the public sphere encompasses active and mediated political actions of Cuban filmmakers, who use cinematic techniques as ‘tactics’ and ‘strategies’ to disseminate Revolutionary principles to mobilise the Cuban audience toward self-understanding for political purpose. These revolutionary films reflect everyday life of the Cuban people as the social revolution in order to evoke their self-consciousness and political subjectivity to that reality. Studying revolutionary films to understand plurality of political participation is insightful for understanding not what these films are supposed to be but what they can become - a discursive system of knowledge about the Revolution as an ideology and a historical struggle that invite the people to join the struggle. These films are not mere propaganda but rather revolutionary aesthetics that signify their creators’ agency and democratic capability, laying out the boundaries and possibilities for political participation in contemporary socialist Cuba.
