BICHAS, O DOCUMENTÁRIO: HISTÓRIAS DE HOMOFOBIA E EMPODERAMENTO EM UMA LEITURA QUEER.

Abstract

Cinematographic narratives exert great power over audiences. They convey and construct relations of gender and sexuality, which confers extreme relevance to the investigation of the role of cinematic discourses/practices/effects in the constitution of values and social representations. Cinema is intended here as a creative locus marked by the experience of gendered identities, sexualities, desires and affections and by the cinema’s potential as a didactic resource that enables the construction of social knowledge. In this sense, this work analyses, in a queer reading, Marlon Parente’s documentary Bichas, that deals with the history of six young gay men from the Northeast. The characters talk to the audience, telling how they “came out” to their families, how they coped with reactions and how they dealt with homophobia in public places. The documentary, based on the testimonies of these young people, suggests that the word “bicha” could/should be used as a form of empowerment of the homosexual community.

Keywords

• sexual orientation
• sexuality
• cinema
• documentary