The Journey into the Text – Reading Rulfo in Carlos Reygadas’s 2002 Film 'Japón'

This article analyses the presence of Juan Rulfo’s novel Pedro Páramo in Carlos Reygadas’s film Japón. While Pedro Páramo becomes allegorical of the nature of reading, Japón employs equivalent narrative devices to lead the spectator into a reassessment of the nature of film spectatorship. As Rulfo’s work questions the division between character and reader, so Japón questions the boundary between actor, character, and spectator. The article firstly analyses points of reference between the novel and the film, especially the journey of the protagonists seen as an allegorical journey into the nature of art. It then investigates the theoretical and allegorical implications of the narratives in regard to the role of the reader/spectator.