gender<ed> thoughts Y. 4/2025 - Queering the Cangaço: Gender Nonconformity and Representation in Brazilian Film and TV by Henrique Gomes
This paper examines how Brazilian cinema and television have reimagined the cangaço through queer and gender-nonconforming characters. The cangaço was a historical movement of social banditry that emerged in Brazil’s northeastern Sertão region between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Traditionally, representations of cangaceiros have reinforced rigid gender roles, portraying them as symbols of violent hypermasculinity, deeply tied to the socio-political realities of the region. However, contemporary films and TV series have increasingly disrupted this framework by introducing characters whose gender fluidity and performative aesthetics challenge the binary logic historically ascribed to the cangaço. By queering the cangaço, contemporary Brazilian visual culture not only subverts a foundational myth of national identity but also engages with epistemologies that position gender nonconformity as a site of political and social transformation. These shifting portrayals destabilize long-standing associations between masculinity, violence, and power in the Sertão, revealing how media can serve as a critical space for rethinking gender and identity.
Keywords
Cangaço, queer representation, hypermasculinity, Brazilian cinema