The Strange Force of a Queer Pietà

Pixote: a lei do mais fraco (1980) is a Brazilian film set in a juvenile detention center, often analyzed for its critique of authoritarianism and police brutality. By contrast, the film’s exploration of gender and sexuality has received little scholarly attention. In this article, I examine how the central characters form an alternative family that subverts dominant Western bourgeois ideals of childhood and motherhood. Drawing on gender studies and queer theory—particularly the concepts of queer temporalities and alternative kinship—I analyze the development of the queer character Lilica, arguing that she embodies and disrupts the Christian figure of the Pietà. By analyzing her mourning of a lover’s death and her performance of Caetano Veloso’s “Força Estranha,” I suggest that Lilica emerges as a non-normative maternal figure for the protagonist. As such, this article contributes to a deeper understanding of the film’s social dimensions.

Brazilian cinema · Caetano Veloso · childhood · gender and sexuality · juvenile detention · Motherhood · Mourning · pietas · queer temporality · Queer theory · Cinema History and Criticism · Gender and Feminist Studies · Gender, Sexuality, and Education