Feminine facets and Brazilian science fiction in Excitação (1976)

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the female characters in the film Excitação (1976), taking into account aspects of the erotic film - an important genre of Brazilian cinematography in the production of Boca (SP) and which is widely revisited, especially with regard to the female representations (Gamo; Melo, 2018). The comparison between science fiction and horror (Cánepa, 2012) reveals countless possibilities, not only around genres that are so rare in Brazil – such as science fiction – but in dialogue with Brazilian feminism created during the military dictatorship (Sarti, 2004). The hypothesis is that Helena, the woman with psychological problems attacked by appliances; Arlete, the neighbor who has an affair with her friend's husband; Lu, the young rebel; Joana, the maid, and Elza, the secretary – mostly representatives of the Brazilian middle class, are characters capable of promoting negotiations around the concept of agency (Mahmood, 2019), revealing important nuances for power relations in Brazilian society in the 1970s.