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| Author(s): |
Luis Felipe Kojima Hirano
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Doctoral Thesis |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD) |
| Defense date: | 2013-08-02 |
| Examining board members: |
Lilia Katri Moritz Schwarcz;
Esther Imperio Hamburger;
Marcelo Siqueira Ridenti;
Nicolau Sevcenko;
Laura Moutinho da Silva
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| Advisor: | Lilia Katri Moritz Schwarcz |
| Abstract | |
This dissertation analyzes the more than 70-year trajectory of the actor Sebastião Bernardes de Souza Prata, better known as Grande Otelo (1917-1993). From one angle, it contributes to the consideration of different moments of Brazilian cinema, taking into account that the actor was an integral part of the Brazilian cinematographic imaginary from the 1930s to the 1990s, in the films of Cinédia and Sonofilmes, in Its All True (the unfinished project of Orson Welles in Brazil), in productions of Rio de Janeiro (Carioca) Realism, in the chanchada films of Atlântida, in New Cinema (Cinema Novo), and in Marginal Cinema. From another angle, observing this trajectory allows for reflection on the manner in which race relations and their intersections with the question of gender and body of the artists, black or white are reinterpreted in accordance with the logic of the field of cinematography. The unifying thread of the analysis is a complex equation between force lines that surpass this logic and cinemas own mechanisms, used to differentiate, rank, and hierarchize actors and schools. In undertaking this, concepts employed include structure of feelings of whiteness, racial stereotypes and persona, and the internal examination of the films which opens a path for revealing racist cinematographic discourses as well as anti-racist strategies. The itinerary of Grande Otelo thus makes it possible to examine the strong dialogue between the racial imaginary of Hollywood and its translation by Brazilian companies between the 1930s and the 1950s, as well as alternative representations of black people in Its All True, in Carioca Realism, and in the film Rio, Zona Norte, by Nelson Pereira dos Santos. In contrast, the disappearance of the actor in the first films of New Cinema illuminates the perspectives of Glauber Rocha and Carlos Diegues on black people. Both directors chose actors with body structures, physionomies, and performances of masculinity different from those of Grande Otelo, such as Antonio Pitanga. The return of Otelo in Macunaíma, by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, allows for a discussion of a reflexive moment in Brazilian cinema, in which the impasses of Brazil become explicit in the reformulation of old figures such as the malandro and in the renewed interlocution with the black movement, among others. Finally, the study discusses the deepening of an internal dialogue in the films of Rogério Sganzerla and Júlio Bressane, which make Grande Otelo a historical witness to Brazilian cinema. The prolific actor would then make possible reflection on race relations, in its intersections with the topics of gender and body, as well as on cinema in Brazil. (AU) | |