Vulnerable Bodies: Subverting Masculine Normativity in Leopoldo Torre Nilsson’s Boquitas pintadas

Abstract

The article explores the multiple ways in which Leopoldo Torre Nilsson’s film Boquitas pintadas (1974) deconstructs and subverts traditional masculinity. Using the critical approaches related to queer, gender, feminist, and film studies elaborated by R. W. Connell, Judith Butler, David William Foster, and Alexander Doty, among others, I explore the function of the male body in the construction of traditional masculinity within the context of rural 1930s Argentina portrayed in the film. The male body’s health, visibility, and vulnerability play an important role in destabilizing masculine privilege and androcentric romance in Torre Nilsson’s production. I consider the experiences of the male characters from a critical queer and gender perspective with the aim of challenging the concept of an “organic” and “natural” body. My argument is that the body of any man can be turned vulnerable and undesirable, depending on society’s current needs and politics.

Keywords

• 1970s argentine cinema
• gender constructions
• leopoldo torre nilsson
• masculinities
• queer studies