Queer Male Bodies and the Cinematic Liminal Beach.

Abstract

This paper explores the representation queer bodies set within the natural seascape, in relation to queer temporality, and queer transnational cinematic form. Foregrounding case studies that focus on films set within South America and the Caribbean, this paper establishes an historical background, making links to theories of affect, cinematic time, and the notion of queer temporality. As part of this, a journey is traced from films such as Suddenly Last Summer (1959) and Death in Venice (1971), alongside the work of French Queer cinema, in reference to the queer body within the proximity of water. The key case studies include - Children of God (2010) set in The Bahamas, Teus Olhos Meus / Soulbound (2011) set in Brazil, and Contracorriente / Undertow (2009) set in Peru. I argue that the presence of the queer body, set within the landscape of the beach, offers a complex mise en scène, where time based and historical and cultural forms, relate an affective potential, to ways of seeing, feeling and being.