Queer Temporalities, Fluid Encounters: Feeling Utopia in Marcelo Caetano’s Body Electric

Abstract

In this chapter, I trace back the discussion about utopianism in queer studies to analyze Marcelo Caetano’s Body Electric, a film released in 2017, at the peak of conflicts that turned Brazilian politics upside down. At the time, the film received a mixed critical response. Some celebrated the exuberant depiction of communities marginalized in Brazilian society because of their identities (racial and/or sexual), which are now in an even more precarious situation due to the rise of a far-right government. Others criticized the film’s general mood, considered negligent for its naiveté and depoliticization of complex social issues. While these assessments drew attention to the film’s utopic portrayal of the working class, either approving or criticizing it, I suggest a third approach to the film based on a different understanding of utopia—proposed by queer theorist José Muñoz—and on its connections to sexuality and race. Addressing these themes is particularly relevant in the present moment, considering the ways in which the ideological rhetoric and political agenda of the current Brazilian presidential administration reinvigorate the racist and homophobic subtexts implicit in the country’s nationalistic imaginary.