Selfish Mysticism, Queer Utopias: 'Homo-ness' in Carlos Hugo Christensen's O menino e o vento

• Main Author: James Hodgson
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Portuguese Studies Association (APSA) 2019-06-01
• Series: Journal of Lusophone Studies
• Subjects: Queer cinema; homosexuality; Leo Bersani; Brazil; film aesthetics
• Online Access: https://jls.apsa.us/index.php/jls/article/view/303

This article considers Carlos Hugo Christensen's film O menino e o vento (1968) through the work of queer theorist Leo Bersani. It argues that Christensen’s depiction of same-sex desire makes a fundamental challenge to social organization by reconfiguring the basic unit of interpersonal relations (self and other). Against the well-disciplined homosexual subject, the film presents homosexuality as an impersonal, quasi-mystical, homoerotic force that breaks down and transcends the barriers between individuals, shattering all efforts to name and so to control it. This article addresses specifically the question of queer utopias, sketching out what one might look like in Lusophone cinema. It contributes to the current scholarship on Christensen while examining how ideas about homosexuality are formulated in Lusophone cultures more generally, and how they might be politically useful.