"Quem nasce em Bacurau é gente. A gente”

Identity in Bacurau (2019) based on comments on Letterboxd

Abstract

Identities are a positioning established within cultures. The objective of this article is to understand what interpretations of identity the Brazilian public produced based on the film Bacurau (2019), especially ideas of identity based on nationality. Thus, we ask: what do Brazilian viewers who watched Bacurau during its release express with respect to the term “identity”? To this end, we analyzed excerpts from sixteen comments published during the period in which the film was released on the social network Letterboxd. The research was guided theoretically and methodologically by the Circuit of Culture, an analytical protocol of Cultural Studies. In addition to the concept of identity(ies), the concepts of recognition device, miscegenation in Latin America, and cultural competence are also relevant to the research. As a result, we obtained three categories defined from the comments: identification and belonging, identity and memory, and identity and resistance. We noticed that, based on the term identity, Bacurau viewers mobilize their own identifications with the film through recognition, associate the story as a relevant factor in the construction of an identity, and draw parallels between the narrative of the work and the Brazilian situation at the time of its release.