Allegories of Underdevelopment: Aesthetics and Politics in Modern Brazilian Cinema
Minneapolis; London: University of Minnesota Press (1997), viii, 285 pp.
Contains illustrations, bibliogr. pp. 275-278, index
ISBN 0-8166-2676-6 (hbk); 0-8166-2677-4 (pbk)
"Focusing on a variety of filmmaker's use of narrative allegories for the “conservative modernization” Brazil and other nations underwent in the 1960s and 1970s, Ismail Xavier examines the way Cinema Novo transformed Brazil's cultural memory. Includes discussions of Black God, White Devil, Land in Anguish, Red Light Bandit, Macunaíma, Antônio das Mortes, The Angel Is Born, and Killed the Family and Went to the Movies." (Publisher description)
Introduction, 1
I. THE TELEOLOGY OF HISTORY
1 Black God, White Devil: Allegory and Prophecy, 31
II. THE CRISIS OF TELEOLOGY
2 Land in Anguish: Allegory and Agony, 57
3 Red Light Bandit: Allegory and Irony, 95
4 The Levels of Incoherence; or, The Mirage of the Nation as Subject, 123
III. ALLEGORY AND MELANCHOLY
5 Macunaima: The Delusions of Eternal Childhood, 133
6 Antonio das Mortes: Myth and the Simulacrum in the Crisis of Revolution, 155
IV. ALLEGORY AND DECONSTRUCTION
7 The Angel Is Born: The Song of Exile, 183
8 Killed the Family and Went to the Movies: The Ersatz Carnival, 203
9 Bang Bang: Passage, Not Destination, 219
V. FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS
10 Trends of Allegory in the 1970s, 235
Conclusion, 261
I. THE TELEOLOGY OF HISTORY
1 Black God, White Devil: Allegory and Prophecy, 31
II. THE CRISIS OF TELEOLOGY
2 Land in Anguish: Allegory and Agony, 57
3 Red Light Bandit: Allegory and Irony, 95
4 The Levels of Incoherence; or, The Mirage of the Nation as Subject, 123
III. ALLEGORY AND MELANCHOLY
5 Macunaima: The Delusions of Eternal Childhood, 133
6 Antonio das Mortes: Myth and the Simulacrum in the Crisis of Revolution, 155
IV. ALLEGORY AND DECONSTRUCTION
7 The Angel Is Born: The Song of Exile, 183
8 Killed the Family and Went to the Movies: The Ersatz Carnival, 203
9 Bang Bang: Passage, Not Destination, 219
V. FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS
10 Trends of Allegory in the 1970s, 235
Conclusion, 261
