Project Proposal

Final Project Proposal

BACKGROUND
After World War II, Latin America gave rise to extremely politically-conscious film traditions, often called “Third Cinema.” It encompassed such movements as “the aesthetics of hunger” and “cinema liberacíon.” These were films that thrive in the Latin American consciousness to this day. As a whole, these films reflected much of the anti-colonial, nationalist spirit of the region at the time. As such, they were heavily invested in a very heteropatiarchical discourse – revolution was a task that was carried forth by the virility of the heterosexual Latin American man. How was his sexuality viewed through the cinematic screen at the time? And most importantly, how does the representation of his sexuality project onto the portrayal of other sexual cultures, often deemed “deviant” in this context?
Contemporary Latin American and Caribbean cinema (defined as the 1980s to the present for the purposes of this study) is finally starting to explicitly represent the disruption of this heteropatriarchical discourse. Films like Kiss of the Spiderwoman (1985) interweave narratives of sexuality, politics and postcolonialism to shed light on the nuances of sexual discourse in Latin America. My senior thesis will focus on similar films from this era, and juxtapose them with Third Cinema films in order to explore the shift from a covert to an overt sexual discourse in the region.

QUESTIONS
1. How does the legacy of nationalist Third Cinema affect contemporary Latin American cinema?
2. How does the representation of a nationalist heterosexual male’s sexuality project onto the portrayal of other sexual cultures, often deemed “deviant” in this context?
3. How does contemporary Latin American cinema confront issues of sexuality that were discarded or omitted previously? Were they omitted previously?
4. What does the “sexually deviant” or “queer” subject do to the fabric of Latin American society and its cinematic screen, given that it has historically been “languaged by sex”?

METHODOLOGY
I wish to approach cinema from an anthropological perspective. My interest has always dwelled in how cinema as an art form can serve as a vehicle for political ideology. This final project will help me in the preliminary stages of my senior thesis. Therefore, I will be keeping a blog with reviews and précis about the films and books I will be doing my research on for the essay.











BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alvarez, Manuel Lechón. La Sala Oscura: Guia Del Cine Gay Español Y Latinoamericano. Mardrid: Nuer, 2001. Print.
Bengoechea, Bartolomé Mercedes., and Ladrón Marisol. Morales. (Trans)formaciones De Las Sexualidades Y El Género. [Alcalá De Henares]: Universidad De Alcalá, Servicio De Publicaciones, 2001. Print.
Burton, Julianne. Cinema and Social Change in Latin America: Conversations with Filmmakers. Austin: University of Texas, 1986. Print.
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York [u.a.: Routledge, 2006. Print.
Doty, Alexander. Flaming Classics: Queering the Film Canon. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.
Foster, David William. Queer Issues in Contemporary Latin American Cinema. Austin, TX: University of Texas, 2003. Print.
Foster, David William. Sexual Textualities: Essays on Queer/ing Latin American Writing. Austin: University of Texas, 1997. Print.
Garcia, Wilton. Homoerotismo & Imagem No Brasil. São Paulo, 2004. Print.
Gutiérrez-Albilla, Julián Daniel. Queering Buñuel: Sexual Dissidence and Pyschoanalysis in His Mexican and Spanish Cinema. London: Tauris Academic Studies, 2008. Print.
Hanson, Ellis. Out Takes: Essays on Queer Theory and Film. Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1999. Print.
Hawley, John C. Postcolonial and Queer Theories: Intersections and Essays. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2001. Print.
Hershfield, Joanne. Mexican Cinema, Mexican Woman: 1940 - 1950. Tucson: Univ. of Arizona, 1996. Print.
Juett, JoAnne C., and David Jones. Coming Out to the Mainstream. ; New Queer Cinema in the 21st Century. Cambridge Scholars, 2010. Print.
Kohlke, Marie-Luise, and Luisa Orza. Negotiating Sexual Idioms: Image, Text, Performance. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2008. Print.
Lehman, Peter. Masculinity: Bodies, Movies, Culture. New York: Routledge, 2001. Print.
Martin, Michael T. New Latin American Cinema. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 1997. Print.
Melo, Adrián. Otras Historias De Amor: Gays, Lesbianas Y Travestis En El Cine Argentino. Ciudad De Buenos Aires, Argentina: Ediciones Lea, 2008. Print.
Moreno, Antônio. A Personagem Homossexual No Cinema Brasileiro. Rio De Janeiro: Ministério Da Cultura, FUNARTE, 2001. Print.
Noriega, Chon A. Visible Nations: Latin American Cinema and Video. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2000. Print.
Parker, Richard G. Bodies, Pleasures, and Passions: Sexual Culture in Contemporary Brazil. Nashville [Tenn.: Vanderbilt UP, 2009. Print.
Pick, Zuzana M. The New Latin American Cinema: a Continental Project. Austin: University of Texas, 1993. Print.
Ringer, R. Jeffrey. Queer Words, Queer Images: Communication and the Construction of Homosexuality. New York: New York UP, 1994. Print.
Russo, Vito. The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies. New York: Harper & Row, 1987. Print.
Schaefer, Claudia. Danger Zones: Homosexuality, National Identity, and Mexican Culture. Tucson: University of Arizona, 1996. Print.
Shaw, Deborah. Contemporary Cinema of Latin America: Ten Key Films. New York: Continuum, 2003. Print.
Smith, Faith. Sex and the Citizen: Interrogating the Caribbean. Charlottesville: University of Virginia, 2011. Print.

TENTATIVE FILMOGRAPHY
Third Cinema
• Barravento (1962)
• Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol (1964)
• Lucia (1968)
• Memorias del Subdesarollo (1968)
• La Hora de los Hornos (1968)
• Yawar Malku (1969)

Contemporary Cinema
Brazil
 Do Começo ao Fim (2009)
 Madame Satã (2002)
 Dzi Croquettes (2009)
 Elvis & Madonna (2009)
 One for another (2009)
 Paulista (2009)
 Professor Godoy (2009)
 Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
 Aqueles dois (1985)
 A intrusa (1979)

Argentina
 The Last Summer of La Boyita (2009)
 El Niño Pez (2009)
 XXY (2007)
 De Eso No Se Habla (1993)
 Conviviencia (1993)
 Plata quemada (2000)

Cuba
 Fresas & Chocolate (1994)

Mexico
 Doña Herlinda y su hijo (1985)
 El Lugar sin Limites (1978)
 En el paraíso no existe el dolor (1995)