Lecture & Film

Pop Homage and Modernist Artifact: Andrea Tonacci’s Bang Bang (1971)

Bang Bang

Juan A Suárez

July 5, 2018 20:15 h

This talk will position Andrea Tonacci’s Bang Bang in the filmic and cultural contexts of late 1960s Brazil, as well as in relation to the international art cinema of the time. It will discuss the usefulness of the label “underground” to address the film’s blend of experimentation and fascination with mass cultural iconography, and will further discuss the Tonacci’s debt to Jean-Luc Godard’s early films, which it frequently parodies. Of further interest will be Bang Bang’s emphasis on cars and mobility, its gender politics, and its satirical portrayal of Brazilian urban modernity during one of the most repressive periods of the dictatorship.