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Film and Television Studies

Daniel Zacariotti

Subverting Brazilian fascism through queer cinema

My thesis looks at queer films made during two specific Brazilian political periods with fascist roots, the military dictatorship (1964-1985) and Bolsonaro’s government (2018 – 2022). I’ve chosen to, through queer films made during fascist regimes in Brazil, analyse the subversion of the central motto of the Brazilian fascist movement, Deus, Pátria e Família (God, Homeland and Family). This thesis interrogates various feature films to reflect on the subversions made by a queer Brazilian aesthetic of these ultra-conservative ideals. Adopting a queer and decolonial perspective, this thesis challenges the influence of political purposes through the history of queer Brazilian cinema; it suggests a pivotal dialogue and dispute between Brazilian fascism and the narratives built around queer life and experiences.

It also proposes that the policy-making process for LGBT rights is directly influenced by the queer narratives presented in film. The analysis is built around an extensive contextualisation of fascism in Brazil and the two periods of study, followed by a textual analysis of the film corpus and, then, a reflection on the political use of each of the films. It is, thus, a reflection of politics via film and film via politics. This research offers a new account of queer Brazilian cinema, which situates “Deus, Pátria e Família” as an embedded element in these films, while elucidating the contra-influence of queer cinema in the policies for LGBT people in Brazil.

In short, my main research question is: how the cornerstones of Brazilian fascism are subverted across queer cinema made during fascist governments in Brazil? To answer that, the thesis comprises an introduction and five chapters.

Research Area

  • Film History, Theory and Criticism;
  • Media;

  • Politics;

  • Brazilian Studies;

  • Queer Studies;

  • Decoloniality;

  • Latin American Studies;

  • Epistemology;

  • Queer Culture.

Publications

Almeida, G.; Zacariotti, D. (2022). "Do I fuck you or do you fuck me? Performance, pornotopy and aesthetical revindication of the violence in Baise-moi by Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi". Book of Colloque Virtuel Internationel Politiques et Récits du Corps 2021.

Gelain, G.; Zacariotti, D. (2022). "I'm just Walter Mercado: iconography and iconoclasm as ruminant performative epistemology in Walter Mercado". Book of the Mucho Mucho Amor International Symposium: Walter Mercado's media complexity.

Zacariotti, D. (2021). "Aesthetics and politics in the embodied political subjectivity of Linn da Quebrada". In: 44th Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences. São Paulo: INTERCOM.

Zacariotti, D. Massimini, A. (2021). "Subjection and Epistemic Violence in Conversion Therapies and Religious Discourse". In: 44th Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences. São Paulo: INTERCOM.

Rocha, R.; Zacariotti, D. (2021). "Displaced authorship and audio-visibilities engaged in "Bixa Travesty". REBECA: Brazilian Journal of Film and Audiovisual Studies. v. 9, n.3.

Almeida, G.; Zacariotti, D. (2021). "Baise-moi or laisse-moi te baiser: underground feminine and escapes from representations in the work of Virginie Despentes". In: Résumés des communications Colloque Virtuel International Politiques et Récits du Corps.

Zacariotti, D. (2021). "From recognition to the redistribution of dissident genres based on language as power". Journal Temática. v. 17, p. 61.

Zacariotti, D. (2020). "Possible knowledge practices for undisciplined bodies". In: 43rd Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences. São Paulo: INTERCOM.

Molina, A.; Ferreira, G.; Zacariotti, D.; Silva, V. (2019). "Pornography and Imaginary: the problematic reproduction of fetishized bodies and subjectivities within porn films". INICIACOM: Brazilian Journal of Scientific Initiation. v. 8, n.2, p.

Molina, A.; Zacariotti, D. (2018). "Transvestite sex as a political factor". In: 56th International Congress of Americanists. Salamanca: ICA.

Molina, A.; Zacariotti, D. (2018). "Gender and Experience". In: 1st Aquenda on Communication, Genders and Sexualities. Porto Alegre: UFRGS Publisher.

Molina, A.; Zacariotti, D. (2018). "Journalistic coverage related to the death of transvestites in Brazil: a portrait of disrespect for gender identity in the Laura Vermont case". In: 41st Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences. São Paulo: INTERCOM.

Molina, A.; Zacariotti, D. (2017). "The fervor is also a fight". In: 40th Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences. São Paulo: INTERCOM.

Molina, A.; Zacariotti, D. (2017). "Trans Identities on Tinder". In: 39th Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences. São Paulo: INTERCOM.

Molina, A.; Zacariotti, D. (2017). "Pornoeducation: analysis of imaginaries generated in digital pornography". In: 2nd SEJA. Goiânia: UEG Publisher.

Molina, A.; Zacariotti, D. (2017). "Binarity and sign in advertising films". In: 2nd SEJA. Goiânia: UEG Publisher.

Gomes, V.; Zacariotti, D. (2016). "Research of texts on organizational strategy". In: 15th SECOMUNICA. Brasília: UCB Publisher.

Conferences

"Politics of presence and trans black authorship in Brazilian documentary", XXIV SOCINE Meeting, Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, October 2021.

"Aesthetics and politics in Linn da Quebrada's full political subjectivity", 44th Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences (INTERCOM), Catholic University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil, October 2021.

"Subjection and Epistemic Violence in Conversion Therapies and Religious Discourse", 44th Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences (INTERCOM), Catholic University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil, October 2021.

"Bubbles, Globes, and Foams: knowledge in a spherical and performative perspective of circulations", Comunicon 2021, Superior School of Advertising and Marketing, São Paulo, Brazil.

"Micropolitical Performance Territories: the rise of queer bubbles in pharmacopornographic foam", IV Bienal Latinoamericana y Caribeña en primaa infancia, niñez y youths, Manizales, Colombia, August 2021.

"It is Not Secret, it is Sacred: Tyler Glenn and the Audiovisibilities of Queer Dissensus in the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints," The 56th Annual Conference of the Mormon History Association, Park City, USA, June 2021.

"Baise-moi or laisse-moi te baiser: underground feminine and escapes from representations in the work of Virginie Despentes", Colloque Internacional Politiques et Réctis du Corps, Université Paris Nanterre, Paris, France, May 2021.

"I'm just Walter Mercado: iconography and iconoclasm as ruminant performative epistemology in Walter Mercado", Mucho Mucho Amor International Symposium, Superior School of Advertising and Marketing, São Paulo, Brazil, April 2021.

"The production of knowledge from the documentary (re)presentation of a Bixa Travesty", IV Student Conference on Communication Research, University of Brasilia, Brasilia, Brazil, February 2021.

"Possible knowledge practices for undisciplined bodies", 43rd Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences (INTERCOM), Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil, December 2020.

"The transvestite aesthetic-political body in contemporary Brazilian audiovisual", 4th Meeting of Digital Networks and Activist Cultures, Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil, May 2020.

"Bixa Travesty – struggle and celebration of the woman's cock", Toronto Queer Film Festival, Toronto, Canada, November 2019.

"Journalistic coverage related to the death of transvestites in Brazil: a portrayal of disrespect for gender identity in the Laura Vermont case", 41st Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences (INTERCOM), Federal University of Mato-Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Brazil , October 2018.

"Transvestite sex as a political factor", 56th International Congress of Americanists, Salamanca, Spain, July 2018.

"Gender and Experience", 1st Communication, Gender and Sexualities, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, January 2018.

"I know you want to like me: the influence of gender discourses on Facebook", 3rd International Seminar Unfazendo Gênero, State University of Pernambuco, Campina Grande, Brazil, November 2017.

"Pornoeducation: an analysis of imaginaries generated in digital pornography", 2nd SEJA, State University of Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil, October 2017.

"Binarity and Sign in Advertising Films", 2nd SEJA, State University of Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil, October 2017.

"The fervo is also a fight", 40th Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences (INTERCOM), Positivo University, Curitiba, Brazil, September 2017.

"Trans identities in tinder", 39th Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences (INTERCOM), Federal University of Mato-Grosso, Cuiabá, Brazil, May 2017.

Film and Videography

Director of the short movie "Mergulhe em Mim" - 2021

Director of the short movie "Me Falta Tempo para Celebrar Teus Cabelos" - 2020

Director of Photography and Sound in the documentary "Filhos de Dulcina" - 2016

Director of Photography and Sound in the short movie "Epíteto de Venûs" - 2015

Director of Photography and Sound in the documentar "Jovens Empreendedores" - 2015

Awards and Recognitions

Intercom – Brazilian Society for Interdisciplinary Communication Studies

Best Fiction Screenplay - 2019

Best Audiovisual Advertising Production for the Internet - 2019

Best Poster - 2018

Best Motion Photography - 2018

Best Spot - 2018

Best Jingle - 2018

Best Graphic Design - 2017

Best Moving Photography - 2017

Best Advertising Photography - 2017

ABERJE – Brazilian Association of Business Communication

Aberje University Award - 2017

Teaching Experience

Universidade Católica de Brasília - Brasília, Brazil

Teaching Assistance

Communication and Gender (Professor Anelise Molina) - Jan. 2018 – Jul. 2018

Photography for Advertising (Professor Anelise Molina) - Aug. 2016 – Jul. 2017

Applied Aesthetics (Professor Florence Dravet) - Jan. 2016 – Dec. 2016

Universidade de Brasília - Brasília, Brazil

Teaching Assistance

Theatrical Staging II (Professor Sonia Maria Caldeira Paiva) - Jan. 2016 – Dec. 2016

Theatrical Interpretation II (Professor Julia Carvalhal) - Jan. 2015 – Dec. 2015

Research Experience

Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Research Internship - 2021 – 2022

· Guest researcher in the Research Project "Landscape as Communication Territory in Contemporary Photography" coordinated by Fernando do Nascimento Gonçalves.

Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing - São Paulo, Brazil

Master's student - 2019 – 2022

• Scholarship by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoa de Nível Superior - CAPES (Brasil – Código de financiamento 001);

• Researcher at the CNPq Juvenália Research Group: aesthetic, generational, racial and gender issues in communication and consumption;

• Researcher in the Research Project "Gendered Musical Artivism in São Paulo: Communication Dynamics, Consumer Contexts, Presentation and Audiovisibility Policies in an Embodied and Translocal Pop";

• Member of the "Memorial do Consumption" Extension Project.

Universidade Católica de Brasília - Brasília, Brazil

Bachelor degree - 2015 – 2018

· Researcher in the Research Project "Communication and Gender – ComGenUCB".

Universidade de Brasília - Brasília, Brazil

Bachelor degree - 2017 – 2018

· Member of LTC – Transdisciplinary Scenography Laboratory

Contact

daniel.zacariotti@warwick.ac.uk