Who gazes at whom: Patriarchy's abjection gaze and Marina's oppositional gaze in A Fantastic Woman

Olegario da Costa Maya Neto

doi:10.5007/2175-8026.2024.e99262

Autores

Olegario da Costa Maya Neto Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4223-5206

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2024.e99262

Palavras-chave:

A Fantastic Woman, Oppositional gaze, Queer Theory

Resumo

Alan Parson's song "Time", played in the beginning of the film A Fantastic Woman (2017), raises motifs that resonate throughout the film: the inexorable passing of time and the human need/right to say goodbye to those we love(d). After Marina, a working class transwoman, has the unfortunate surprise of losing her beloved Orlando, her mourning is interrupted and her right to say goodbye is threatened by the heteronormative pressure from society. The abjection gaze of the patriarchal family and of state representatives towards Marina is discussed based on Judith Butler's (2002) Gender Trouble. Running against time and the tyranny of heteronormativity, Marina eventually develops an oppositional gaze – discussed based on bell hooks (2015) – to counter the violence of the alienating gaze, not only to be able to say goodbye to Orlando, but also to assert her identity as a woman.

Biografia do Autor

Olegario da Costa Maya Neto, Universidade Estadual de Mato Grosso do Sul

Graduated in English language and literature at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (2014), in Brazil. Master (2017) and PhD (2020) received from the English Post-Graduate Program at UFSC, Olegario is currently a Professor at the Mato Grosso do Sul State University, in the English and Spanish undergraduate courses and at ProfLetras. He is interested in Comparative Literature and Cinema, Adaptation Studies, Latin American Cinema, Biographic films, Creative Writing, English and Literature Teaching.

Referências

A Fantastic Woman. Directed by Sebastián Lelio. Performances by Daniela Vega, Francisco Reyes and Luis Gnecco. Fabula, 2017.

Bordwell, David, and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: an Introduction. McGrawHill, 2008.

Butler, Judith. Gender is Burning: “Questions of Appropriation and Subversion”. Dangerous Liaisons: Gender, Nation, and Postcolonial Perspectives. Edited by Anne McClintock et al, University of Minnesota Press, 1997, 381-395.

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge, 2002.

Cristaldo, Heloisa. “Brasil é o pais com mais mortes de pessoas trans no mundo, diz dossiê”. Agência Brasil, 23 january, 2023. https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/direitos-humanos/noticia/2023-01/brasil-e-o-pais-com-mais-mortes-de-pessoas-trans-no-mundo-diz-dossie. Accessed 9 May, 2023.

hooks, bell. “The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectator”. Black looks: Race and Representation. Edited by bell hooks. Routledge, 2015. 115-131.

Informe Anual de Derechos Humanos: Diversidad Sexual y de Género en Chile 2017. MOVILH, 2017. https://www.movilh.cl/biblioteca/estudios/. Acessed 11 May, 2023.

Informe Anual de Derechos Humanos de la Diversidad Sexual y de Género en Chile 2022. MOVILH, 2022. https://www.movilh.cl/biblioteca/estudios/. Acessed 11 May, 2023.

Kristeva, Julia. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. Columbia University Press, 1982.

Kroll, Julia. Body, Gender and Sexuality in Latin American Cinema: Insurgent Skin. Palgrave, 2022.

Ley de Matrimonio Igualitario. Chile Atiende, March 25, 2022. https://www.chileatiende.gob.cl/fichas/101164-ley-de-matrimonio-igualitario#:~:text=Descripci%C3%B3n,asistida)%20a%20las%20familias%20homoparentales. Acessed 12 May, 2023.

Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”. BRAUDY, Leo; COHEN, Marshall (org.). Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. Edited by Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen, Oxford University Press, 1999, 833-44.

Rabelo, Maria Eduarda Fajardo Correia and Suellen Karine do Nascimento Conserva. A Transfobia na Análise do Filme “Uma Mulher fantástica”. 2020. Faculdade Pernambucana de Saúde, Bachelor Monograph.

Sófocles. A Trilogia Tebana. Zahar, 1990.

Stam, Robert. “Teoria e Prática da Adaptação: da Fidelidade à Intertextualidade”. Ilha do Desterro, 51, 2006, 19-53.

The Alan Parsons Project. “Time”. RCA, 1980. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhRzORqNa0E. Accessed 20 July, 2021.

Trans Murder Monitoring Annual Report 2016. TvT, 2016.

Waal, Ariane de and Felipe Armstrong. “Trans/national necronarratives: mourning, vitality, and non-reproductivity in Una mujer fantástica”. European Journal of English Studies, n.24, 2020, 52-64.