Biopolitics and Memory. Television as Structuring System for National Narratives in Colombia

Abstract

The current television discourses are marked by the establishment of new ways of seeing: make see to «make feel» that there is no mediation between the reality created by the television medium and the reality as it is experienced by the subject. Throughout the 21st century, television series, defined by their producers as «fictions based on real events», have multiplied; among them, the narco-series made mainly in Colombia and Mexico. Escobar, el patrón del mal is one of such productions, which promises to provide a historical reconstruction of the Colombian war which struck the country during the eighties and nineties of the 20th century. The article originates from a research about the ways in which such television discourse is articulated, and about its possible effects on the Colombian collective memory. It moves from the acknowledgement of communication as a fundamental biopolitical mechanism of domination in the new world order.