Na trilha do cangaço: as representações das relações de gênero nos filmes 'Corisco e Dadá' e 'Baile perfumado'

Abstract

Brazilian cinema has been an admirer of cangaço for decades. There are many narratives in which cangaço and its characters are central. Most part of these movies have men as protagonists, although it does not mean lack of space for feminine characters. The present study shows how movies like Corisco e Dadá (1996) and Baile Perfumado (1997) are a representation of this exception to the rule of cangaço movement as exclusively masculine. Indeed, these films offer storylines about gender relations. The objective of this research was to understand how these representations are constructed gender relations between Corisco e Dadá, Lampião e Maria Bonita. The analysis showed that there are breaks in the patriarchal and sexist pattern experienced in the historical context of these stories, the 1920s and 1930s, although the works above mentioned were produced in the 1990s, also known as the “Cinema of Recovery” decade. In addition, we sought to evaluate how the identities of these characters were built in the movies. Therefore, this study is based on feminist studies, mainly on discussions about patriarchy and gender, and theory of social representations. We conclude that the national cinema is a tool for reduction of tensions on the roles and gender relations, allowing the appearance of other forms of representations and constructions of identities. The films that have served as the corpus of this study, we can see the outlaws cangaceiros both as men and women, consisting of feelings such as affection, friendship, companionship. We can see these personalities without the armor of warriors, with a human look beneath bornais and weapons.