Film: "Kiss of the Spider Woman"

Essay # 63226

Film > Analysis, Criticism, Etc.
Latin-American Studies > Race, Class, Gender Issues

This paper is a critical evaluation of the film "Kiss of a Spider Woman"(1985) directed by Hector Babenco and written by Manuel Puig.

950 words () | 0 sources | MLA | 2003 | United States

Published on: Jan 09, 2006

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that by creating the characters Molina and Valentin in "Kiss of the Spider Woman" (1985), directed by Hector Babenco, Manuel Puig has confronted issues of sexuality and gender in a masochistic Latin American culture. The author points out that there are many symbols of Christianity in the film as observed in the opening sequence of the film where the viewer sees, painted upon a faded cement wall, a painting of an angel with a harp in the sky with the sun blazing behind it, the shadows of bars and clotheslines off to the left. The paper relates that the film "Kiss of the Spider Woman" is significantly different from Puig's book; Babenco's film sequences deal with questions of the political and propaganda nature of art; whereas, Puig uses the film narrations as another chance to further explore sexuality.

From the Paper:

"Molina describes a real man in terms of him being marvelous looking and strong without looking like it. Valentin on the other hand realizes that without power behind you no one looks strong. A real man does not humiliate people and does not make the people around them feel degraded - but that is exactly what the torturers are doing to the prisoners, particularly the political prisoners. It is exactly what they do to when they scream, "You FAG!" at Molina as he lies, blood pouring out of his mouth, in a police surveillance car. These are not real men, they are men who seem strong but only because they have power behind them."