Abstract

An increasing sensitivity towards films and other forms of visual experience has become apparent in social theory. Recent explorations of new media of communication and entertainment have criticized the emphasis on the hegemonic or manipulative power of cultural industries and popular forms of leisure. Films, like many other discursive and visual forms, have been considered as signifying practices and investigated as processes of production, exhibition and reception. This article takes these recent contributions as its point of departure and investigates two Brazilian films, made in the 1950s and 1990s, based on a play that retells the Greek legend of Orpheus in Brazilian social and cultural settings. This article considers the different historical contexts, explores discursive and visual forms of representation, struggles for power within the narratives, unconscious systems of signification, and makes some considerations about the aesthetic dimension present in each film.