Beyond images and sounds: (de)constructions of identities in Neon Bull [Boi Neon]

Abstract

This interdisciplinary essay – involving the areas of Language, Media and Art – proposes an interpretative analysis of the discourse produced in/by the film Neon Bull (Boi Neon – 2015), by Gabriel Mascaro. Based on issues related to the daily life of the Brazilian backlands, the film allows the theoretical crossings of authors from several areas of knowledge, from which the identities of the characters can be expressed. The reflections about the (de)constructions of the identities of the characters and how their identities can be related to the formation of the contemporary subjects are central topics, analyzed under a structural perspective (assembly of scenes), considering the soundtrack (its use and its absence), camera movements and sequence of the scenes, as well as tensions generated by the scene cut and/or continuity of shoot scenes These elements allow thinking how sound and image can be related in the film, what expectations the association between them can produce in the audience and what contributions the relations between the intention to use these resources and their effects provide for the spectator, demonstrating how the themes value the characters in their dream processes. Scenes, songs and excerpts from the film’s utterances with potential for discussion and descriptive analysis of the identity formation of the characters and their social bonds were selected, trying to comprehend the relationships and social practices that implicate the constitution of the contemporary subject in the cinematographic discourse, as well as the way in which the film disrupts and reiterates social values from the collective imaginary – especially those which define the Brazilian backlands –, playing with the expectation of the public.