Em busca das origens de um cinema queer no Brasil

Abstract

The main goal of this dissertation is to find movies made in Brazil up to 1950 that can be interpreted as queer. The first chapter explains the meaning of queer and the establishment of Queer Theory. The second chapter focuses on Queer Cinema (as in what is Queer Cinema and how a film can be queer), its key moments and how the historiography was created. The third chapter the focus is on the homoeroticism found in Brazilian society and literature during the first half of the 20th century. We also discuss the current state of affairs regarding Brazilian cinema studies and the lack of essays considering the role of (homo)sexuality in the pictures. The few cases of homosexuality in Brazilian film studies are brought up and we also present some cases of deviant sexuality on Brazilian screens up to 1950. After this, the fourth chapter analyses Poeira de estrelas (1948, Moacyr Fenelon), in which a duo of female singers split after one of them abandons the theater to marry a man. Brasa Dormida (1929, Humberto Mauro) is the main film described in the fifth chapter, as it presents an all-male love triangle. The sixth and last chapter is dedicated to an analysis of Limite (1931, Mário Peixoto), an experimental film with minimal plot, using the concepts of queer authorship.