University of São Paulo: Strange bodies of Christ- research analyzes the relationship between religion and queer in cinema
In his master’s research, Renato Trevizano dos Santos took on a delicate task: to discuss the connection between Christian representations, eroticism and the seventh art. The strange bodies of Christ: reflections on myth, cinema and queer art from Pasolini, Jarman and Rodrigues seeks to collaborate for the dialogue between two themes that, for some people, should not be mixed: the sacred and the carnal. The dissertation, defended this year at the School of Communications and Arts (ECA) at USP, was born as a search for trinities: cinema, queerness and Christianity. For this, the researcher looked at other triads: the filmmakers Pier Paolo Pasolini, Derek Jarman and João Pedro Rodrigues, and the productions The Gospel According to Saint Matthew ( Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo , 1964),The Garden ( The Garden , 1990) and The Ornithologist (2016), respectively.
Santos is a graduate of the Higher Audiovisual Course at ECA and, in his Course Completion Work (TCC), explored this subject. At the time, he studied ghostly realism and the presence of queerness in the work of Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Taiwanese filmmaker Tsai Ming-liang. The two directors’ cinema was influenced by the religions practiced in these Asian regions, such as Taoism, Buddhism and Shintoism, as well as animist practices.
In the master’s degree, he extended the discussion on LGBTQIA+ representation and “queer bodies” — bodies that do not conform to gender and sexuality standards — to other religiosities, discussing how queer cinema and art help to reposition myths today.
“It was a demand, a need that I had to research this subject, due to the urgencies of the present. I wanted to understand how religious discourse is used as an instrument of oppression. Looking at Brazil and at Christianity, which is the basis of both our prohibitions and our attempts at liberation”.
Among her motivations is the case of model Viviany Beleboni, a transgender woman who paraded crucified like Jesus in an electric car at the LGBT+ Pride Parade in São Paulo in 2015. After the event, the model was the victim of persecution and death threats.
The search
Working in three cinematographic productions, Santos says that the chosen films share some characteristics in the way of narrating, in addition to a poetic tone that interested him.
The Ornithologist tells the story of Fernando (Paul Hamy), a 40-year-old man dedicated to birdwatching. When sailing on a river, the current turns your vessel and launches you on a journey of eroticism, nature and religiosity. The other two films, in a similar way, unite the sensual with the sacred through a lyrical language marked by references and symbolism.
According to Santos, the research does not look at a story that has closed, but at a question that is still open and effervescent. The researcher cites as examples music videos by artists such as Ventura Profana, Getúlio Abelha, Linn da Quebrada and Jup do Bairro, which fuse queer and representations of religious and mythical figures both from Christian religiosity and from African origins.
“These works are luminous points in a generally dark and sinister story in the relationship of LGBTQIA+ bodies and bodies with religious daily life, especially with dogmatic religions”, says the researcher. “I believe that sensuality and religiosity always go together, regardless of what religion postulates or how much religions deny this sensuality.”
“We live in a repressive country and discordant voices sometimes suffer the consequences of their deviations. We see in history persecutions of LGBTQ+, of murders, aggressions and violence. All of this is in the background, passes through me, passes through my body. But looking at that past and looking at these people who fought and voiced their voices is encouraging.”
In his dissertation, the researcher refers to a class by Mário César Lugarinho, in the LGBTQIA+ Literature course held virtually by the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH) at USP, in which the professor addressed the surprise of having found that the Literary canon in many parts of the world was queer. However, often “in the closet”. The professor recalled that, when the Associação Brasileira de Ensino de História was founded, discussions about the homosexual component of authors such as William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman and even, in Brazil, Guimarães Rosa, were generally relegated to the margins. of the debate. For Santos, it is also important to “take out of the closet” (or a way of “queerizing”) the analysis of these texts,