The repression of the desire in Cuban cinema: the sexual antiheroes of Memories of Underdevelopment, Cecilia and Strawberry and Chocolate

This article explores the “playboy” as a sexual antihero in three of the most representative films of Cuban cinema, Memorias del subdesarrollo (1968), Cecilia (1981), and Fresa y Chocolate (1994). The visual censorship of these antiheroes reflects the moral architecture of a political system that, a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Guillén, Gabriel
Format: Online
Language:spa
Published: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios sobre Cultura y Sociedad 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/eticaycine/article/view/19624
Description
Summary:This article explores the “playboy” as a sexual antihero in three of the most representative films of Cuban cinema, Memorias del subdesarrollo (1968), Cecilia (1981), and Fresa y Chocolate (1994). The visual censorship of these antiheroes reflects the moral architecture of a political system that, at least during the 1960s, tried to “dictate” the intimate life of its citizens. Through a detailed analysis of the three films, it seeks to demonstrate that this repression of desire transcends the condemnation of a visual patriarchy, joining Hollywood cinema in the sanction of sexual appetite. The repressions of film protagonists Sergio, Leonardo and Diego represent a conservative and bourgeois morality, despite some legitimate intentions such as the irony over the male desire of the camera or the integration of the homosexuality in revolutionary Cuba.