White Dreams for Black Deeds

Cinema, Epic, and Racial Hierarchy during the First Republic

Resumo

This article analyzes the connection between the narrative elements and commercial success of the film Spartaco (Giovanni Enrico Vidali, Pasquale Film, Italy, 1913), the media coverage surrounding the Revolt of the Lash, the construction of common sense for the public regarding these events and, more generally, the recent past of slavery and the role of Afro-Brazilian citizens in the claiming of rights during the immediate post-Abolition period. In regard to a racially oriented reading of the film, this article argues that the consumption of Spartaco by Brazilian spectators worked to erase Black references of heroism and rebellion from events close in time to the exhibition of the film and connected to the legacy of slavery – the Revolt of the Lash and the trial of João Cândido. Concerning the methodology for analyzing written sources, this article adopts the evidential paradigm, as advocated by Carlo Ginzburg.