The Contention of Space in Contemporary Cuban and Brazilian Film

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to study women's representation and the contention of space in contemporary Brazilian and Cuban films, in order to analyze the way in which the films reflect societal values regarding gender roles and, consequently the way the nation is represented. The Cuban films I examine are: Retrato de Teresa (1979) and De Cierta Manera (1964), the short "Julia" from Mujer Transparente (1990) and from Brazil I work with the films Gabriela (1983) and A Hora da Estrela (1984.) All of the films have a protagonist that is a woman, and all were successful in the box office and had some international recognition. The films have strong female protagonists and share similar socio-political contexts- the socialist government in Cuba and the military dictatorship in Brazil, as well as a time period marked by social unrest as women's rights groups were very active in both countries. My hypothesis is that although these films were commercially successful, groundbreaking and innovative; they ultimately were marked by some of the gendered contradictions and the feminist questionings of their time. In fact, my analysis reveals that, although they each raise many issues and questions about an egalitarian society for both men and women, they fall short in terms of a progressive politics of gender. A notable exception, the film A Hora da Estrela provides a striking difference to the other films.