Repudiation and redemption: An assessment of the feminine in Central do Brasil
2003; Routledge; Volume: 9; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/13260219.2007.10418858
ISSN2151-9668
Autores Tópico(s)Arts and Performance Studies
ResumoAbstract The construction of female identity within Brazilian society has always been closely linked to a highly exoticised image that has its origins in the colonial experience. In Brazilian cinematic production this is an identity construct that has been replayed and reinforced over time. The sensual and very feminine portrayal of women is evident in the earliest stages of national production, in the Bela Época (1908–1911), through the chanchada of the 1940s and 1950s, and resurgent in the 1980s in productions such as Bruno Barreto's Dona Flor e o Seus Dois Maridos (1976) (Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands). 1 The chanchada was a style of film that was extremely popular in Brazil in the 1940s and 1950s, however, it did attract much criticism from intellectual and artistic circles and was severely critiqued by Cinema Novo directors. The films were comedies that employed both satire and parody, the humour used has tended to be seen as vulgar and low-brow, and this contributed to the low socio-cultural position of these films. This article will focus on the recent period of cinematic renaissance in Brazil by examining the construction of the feminine in Central do Brasil (1998, Walter Salles) and its symbolic links to national reconstruction.
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