UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Cities of Dreams and Despair: Utopia and Dystopia in Contemporary Brazilian Film and Literature Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3gk6m784 Author Burt, Benjamin David Publication Date 2020 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Cities of Dreams and Despair: Utopia and Dystopia in Contemporary Brazilian Film and Literature A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Languages and Literatures by Benjamin David Burt 2020 © Copyright by Benjamin David Burt 2020 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Cities of Dreams and Despair: Utopia and Dystopia in Contemporary Brazilian Film and Literature by Benjamin David Burt Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Language and Literatures University of California, Los Angeles, 2020 Professor John Randal Johnson, Co-Chair Professor José Luiz Passos, Co-Chair This dissertation employs a theoretical framework rooted in utopian studies to examine the role of utopia, dystopia, and related concepts in literary and cinematic depictions of Brasília and São Paulo since 1980. By centering the concept of utopianism, understood broadly as “social dreaming,” this project departs from idealized or mythologized representations of Brazil and focuses instead on hopeful imagination. Though national cultural production long reflected optimistic myths about Brazil and its territory, the military dictatorship of 1964-1985 heralded a turn towards pessimism and dystopian aesthetics. Brazilian artists of the current, democratic period negotiate these dual legacies in a predominantly urban society during an era of global ii skepticism about utopia. While references to Brazil and its cities as utopian or dystopian abound in recent criticism, this dissertation is among the first projects to analyze contemporary cultural production through the lens of utopian studies. Consequently, the primary objectives of this study include surveying the role of utopianism and correlated concepts in recent film and literature, identifying trends among the included works, and considering techniques used to evoke these concepts. My choice of focal cities facilitates comparative analysis of the influence of local history, culture, geography, and urbanism on utopian thought. Whereas Brasília remains closely tied to both utopian yearning and dystopia, critics rarely associate São Paulo explicitly with either concept despite the megacity’s simultaneous embodiment of wealth, dynamism, chaos, and division. The selected texts representing both cities most often respond to a shared baseline of disillusionment with cautious hopefulness. Allegorical and realist dystopian aesthetics remain influential, as does the limited, critical desire outlined in Haroldo de Campos’s theory of post- utopian poetry. Few texts embrace a fatalistic, anti-utopian outlook, while hopeful perspectives breaking meaningfully with the status quo are likewise uncommon. The Federal District is a more frequent site of radical utopianism as authors and filmmakers draw from Brasília’s history of revolutionary aspiration, whereas such ambition is almost entirely absent from the included works centered on São Paulo. Despite this divergence, however, texts using dystopia or post- utopia to critique specific social or ideological phenomena predominate among the included representations of both cities. iii The dissertation of Benjamin David Burt is approved. Stephen Andrew Bell Maarten H. van Delden John Randal Johnson, Committee Co-Chair José Luiz Passos, Committee Co-Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2020 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 Theoretical Framework: Thinking about Utopia .................................................................3 Utopias in Concrete: Utopian Thinking and Urban Space.................................................17 Overview of Brazil as Utopia and Dystopia ......................................................................24 Chapter Breakdown ...........................................................................................................37 SECTION ONE Embers of Utopianism in Brasília ..................................................................................................39 Section Introduction ...........................................................................................................39 Brasília’s Foundational Aspirations: Political, Mystical, and High Modernist Utopianism ............................................................................................................................................39 Adrift in Dystopia: The Failure of Brasília’s Foundational Utopias .................................45 The Contemporary City: Trends in Urbanism and Art ......................................................49 CHAPTER ONE Utopia Lost: Reclaiming Hopefulness in Brasília’s Literature ......................................................50 Literature in Brasília: A Brief Overview ...........................................................................50 Hoping on a Shattered Star: Clarice Lispector’s Capital in Flux .......................................53 João Almino: A Chronicler of Futures Lost and Found ....................................................56 The End of the World or A New Beginning: Paradoxical Inspiration in Almino’s Début .... ............................................................................................................................................57 Second Spring: Post-utopianism in As cinco estações do amor (2001).............................64 The Long Wait for Freedom: Milton Hatoum’s Brasília ...................................................70 Escape to Braxília: Nicolas Behr’s Utopian Imagination ..................................................76 Utopia Brasília: Darcy Ribeiro Keeps the Faith ................................................................86 Chapter One Conclusion ....................................................................................................89 CHAPTER TWO Filming a Failed Utopia: Division, Disillusionment, and New Hope in Brasília’s Cinema ..........92 Cinema in Brasília: A Brief Overview ..............................................................................92 A New Dawn in Glauber Rocha’s Brasília ........................................................................97 Seeking Brasília in Ana Vaz’s Intertextual Cinema ........................................................106 Cold Comfort: Alienation and Anonymity in Insolação (2009) ......................................115 Filming the Anti-Brasília in A cidade é uma só? (2011) .................................................122 The Right to a City in Ruins: Radical Utopian Destruction in Branco Sai, Preto Fica (2014) ...............................................................................................................................133 In Darkest Night: Searching for Unity in Era uma vez Brasília (2017) ..........................144 Chapter Two Conclusion .................................................................................................152 v SECTION TWO São Paulo, Sociedade Alienada: Resignation and Aspiration in Brazil’s Largest City ...............155 Section Introduction .........................................................................................................155 Historical Context ............................................................................................................155 Reading a Megalopolis: Identity, Myth, and Ideology ....................................................157 Consequences of Progress in the Contemporary City......................................................161 CHAPTER THREE Seeking Salvation in Literary São Paulo .....................................................................................168 Literature in São Paulo: A Brief Overview......................................................................168 A Prescient Dystopia: Não verás país nenhum (1981) ....................................................175 Learning Solidarity in Ninguém é inocente em São Paulo (2006)...................................186 Reliving Trauma and Reclaiming Hope in Sob os pés, meu corpo inteiro (2018) ..........194 Faith in a Fractured City: Eles eram muitos cavalos (2001) ...........................................202 Raging against Modernization in Babel Babilônia (2007) ..............................................214 Chapter Three Conclusion ...............................................................................................222 CHAPTER FOUR Kaleidoscopic Hope in Cinematic São Paulo ..............................................................................225 Cinema in São Paulo: A Brief Overview .........................................................................225 Chico Botelho’s City at Night..........................................................................................237 Confinement and Catastrophe in Um céu de estrelas (1996) ..........................................243 Circling the Drain in O cheiro do ralo (2007) .................................................................251 Post-utopian Tactics in Não por acaso (2007) ................................................................261