Critically examines how movies that feature real or imagined explorers and expeditions creatively feature the geography of Latin America. The book focuses on how locales are scripted into film plots and artistically depicted, and demonstrates that place is as important as any character in a film, especially in this genre.

""This book critically examines how exploration and discovery films--movies that feature real or imagined explorers and expeditions--creatively feature the geography of Latin America. It focuses on how places and geographical features are scripted into film plots and artistically depicted, and demonstrates that place is as important as any [other] character in a film, especially in this genre. Nineteen key films are analyzed. Some, like Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Fitzcarraldo, The Other Conquest, Embrace of the Serpent, and The Lost City of Z are based on the exploits of real explorers. Others are fictional, including Apocalypto, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Through a close reading of these films, with an eye on colonialist and post-colonialist exploration, the author reveals that there are many more compelling exploration-discovery films to come, including those that treat marginalized explorers more equitably."-Provided by publisher"--