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- Getting away with murder: why do criminals succeed and detectives fail in neo-noir films?Publication . Mancelos, João deIn classic film noir, villains and femmes fatales were nearly always punished for their crimes and transgressions. The Production Code demanded poetic justice, according to the ethical and moral principles of the forties and fifties. However, neo-noir films take a more realistic approach to life: on one side, the thug gets away with murder, proving that “good things happen to bad people”; on the other side, the tough police detective or private-eye, like Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade, was replaced by more humanized characters — morally ambiguous men or women who deal with existential issues and sometimes fail to catch the criminal. In this paper: a) I give evidence of how neo-noir film directors creatively use time and space to generate an atmosphere of insecurity and fear; b) I present and examine several examples of criminals who succeed and detectives who fail; c) I analyze the moral implications of these changes. In order to do so, I resort to several neo-noir films; to the work of specialists in film studies; and, of course, to my personal opinion.
- Recensão a Sob céus vermelhos, de Karoline KanPublication . Mancelos, João deRecensão ao ensaio biográfico "Sob céus vermelhos", de Karoline Kan, acerca de três gerações de mulheres que testemunharam as mudanças políticas na China, centrando-me em questões como cultura, alteridade e transformação socioeconómica.
- Canções de amor, desejo e perda: os blues em três romances de Toni MorrisonPublication . Mancelos, João deA música afro-americana constitui uma presença recorrente nos romances de Toni Morrison: os blues e o jazz em The Bluest Eye (1970), Jazz (1992) e Love (2003); a música folk em Song of Solomon (1977); as canções de trabalho em Beloved (1987); a música clássica em Tar Baby (1981); e cantos tribais em A Mercy (2008). Neste artigo, focarei os blues, um estilo menos estudado no contexto da produção literária morrisoniana, e que suscita novas leituras nos romances The Bluest Eye (1970), Jazz (1992) e Love (2003). O meu objetivo é responder a várias perguntas essenciais: quais as funções e significados dos blues no conteúdo das narrativas morrisoniana? Como influencia este género o estilo e as estruturas dos romances da autora? A que experiências individuais ou históricas negras se associa? Para abordar estes assuntos, recorrerei à literatura, música e história, compondo, nota a nota, as minhas respostas.
- As I hear my voice calling: issues and matters in autobiographyPublication . Mancelos, João deWhen asked to write her autobiography, dancer Isadora Duncan replied: “How can we write the truth about ourselves? Do we even know it?”. Autobiography, the writing of the self, constitutes a difficult genre, and poses several challenges in terms of style and narrative strategies: a) Which moments in the life of an individual should be selected? b) How can one turn public private and intimate experiences?; c) Which techniques belonging to the realm of fictional narrative can be successfully adapted to the art of autobiography? In this paper, I’m interested in debating the main problems that writers, musicians and actors, such as Maya Angelou, Bob Dylan or Michael J. Fox, associate with autobiographical writing. I also analyze a few techniques authors employed to solve or minimize those issues. To do so, I resort to the opinion of autobiographers; to the essays of specialists in creative writing; and to my experience as a teacher and researcher in that field.
- O escritor convida o leitor para uma dança: a arte de elaborar parágrafos iniciais numa narrativa ficcionalPublication . Mancelos, João deNuma narrativa literária, como cativar o interesse do leitor desde o início? Existem diversas técnicas que a Escrita Criativa coligiu a partir da análise cuidada de uma grande variedade de obras. Neste artigo, o meu objetivo principal é descrever, exemplificar com excertos de textos literários nacionais e estrangeiros, comentar e problematizar o uso das estratégias que podem fazer a diferença entre um bom e um mau parágrafo inicial.
- Real power is in compassion: an unpublished interview with Joy HarjoPublication . Mancelos, João deAn interview with Native American poet Joy Harjo, on ecocriticism, feminism and post-colonialism.
- How to Murder a Young and Beautiful Woman: Death in Edgar Allan Poe’s Gothic TalesPublication . Mancelos, João deIn Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories there is a morbid obsession with the death of women. It is easy to identify these narratives, since their title corresponds, invariably, to the names of the victims: “Berenice”, “Ligeia”, “Eleonora”, “Annabel Lee”, “Morella”, etc. Uncommon names for stories where the macabre and the improbable play a leading role, and the relationship between the living and the dead is frequently an incestuous one. In this paper, I analyse the aesthetic and biographical reasons behind this phenomenon, resorting to some celebrated stories from the Gothic writer, and to the work of several specialists in Poe’s literary production.
- Who needs a superhero? New trends in action and adventure moviesPublication . Mancelos, João deIs it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s (yet) another superhero who escapes from the drawing board to conquer de big screen. In recent years, movies like Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2010), Green Lantern (2011), Sucker Punch (2011) or The Dark Knight Rises (2012) have fascinated both comic and movie fans alike. Due to their popularity, a new wave of muscled and fierce heroes is coming, with X-Men: Days of the Future Past (2014), or The Fantastic Four (2015). The aim of this paper is to analyze the possible reasons behind the revival and acceptance of this genre, in order to explain this phenomenon. I argue that the answer is multifold and complex, resting in: a) Psychoanalysis (theory of the archetypes); b) Myth (the continuum theory); c) History (the 9/11 factor); d) Sociology (escapism and reassurance); e) Technology (the convenience of comic book adaptation and the possibilities operated by computer-generated imagery). In order to accomplish my mission, I resort to the studies of Carl Gustav Jung, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Joseph Campbell and other reputed specialists.
- Old spells, magic herbs and frightening creatures: the curandera in Rudolfo Anaya’s bless me, ultimaPublication . Mancelos, João deThe curandera, “the woman who heals”, is a recurring figure in the novels of the most celebrated Mexican American writer, Rudolfo Anaya. Ultima, Ismelda, Lucinda Córdova, and Lorenza Villa are characters inspired by the traditional curandera, who resorts to herbs and old spells in order to cure patients, both physically and mentally, since diseases are approached from a holistic perspective. In this paper I will concentrate solely on Ultima, the most memorable curandera in Anaya’s fiction. First, I briefly analyze the folkloric and social value of this figure in the Southwestern communities. Secondly, I exemplify how Ultima: a) Involuntarily causes a clash between witchcraft and Catholicism; b) Resorts to her deep knowledge of curative plants and to the art of nagualismo (the capability of transforming herself into an animal); c) Performs a healing ritual according to the tradition. In order to do so, I resort to: the novel Bless me Ultima; the work of Mexican American folklorists; the opinion of several specialists in the fiction of Anaya; an excerpt from an unpublished interview the author granted me.
- The Poetic Prism: personification of nature and vegetalization of humans in the poetry of walt whitman and Eugénio de AndradePublication . Mancelos, João deIn the poetry of Walt Whitman (1819-1892) and of his Portuguese belated disciple, Eugénio de Andrade (1923-2005), elements of nature are frequently personified or occupy the center of delicate and inspired metaphors. In the verses of the Brooklyn poet, the ocean becomes “a fierce old mother”; earth reveals itself as a “voluptuous lover”; islands are compared to human breasts, etc. Similarly, in the poetry of Eugénio, certain elements of the landscape resonate with an erotic tonality: the archetypical Mother Earth is pregnant with “fruits and bodies”; fountains are the mouth of the soil, horses become rough lovers, like ancient fauns. While nature is personified, humans are seen as possessing characteristics belonging to the vegetal world. In the American bard’s poetry, chest hair is compared to grass; strong arms are “branches of live oak”; and, not surprisingly, Whitman advises: “Grow as the flower grows, unconsciously, but eagerly anxious to open its soul to the air”. In Eugénio’s oeuvre, lovers are frequently compared to penetrable forests; hands are “open flowers”; mouths are roses; children are associated with blackberries and other woody plants, symbols of renewal; and the poet confesses he wants to “become, one day, a tree”. It is of little wonder that humans are “vegetalized”, since both Andrade and Whitman share a telluric love and a strong belief in the unity of humans and the cosmos. In this context, Whitman attempts to read nature, “the substantial words [that] are in the ground and sea” and, following his example, Andrade tries to decode the language of the open landscape of Beira Baixa, where he spent his childhood, incorporating flora and fauna, rivers and fountains, sunlight and shadows, into his verses, charging these elements with symbolic and mythic meanings. In this paper, my goal is to prove that in Whitman and Andrade’s poetic prism, nature becomes not what is outside the realm of culture, but what constructs our humanity, and ultimately, the strength that pervades and eternalizes poetry. In order to accomplish my objective, I resort to examples extracted from poems of both writers and to the work of specialists in the areas of literature, archetypical theory and eco-criticism.