The Sexual Politics of Beauty: Reflections on Contemporary Argentine Cinema

• Published date: 01 March 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/0094582X20988719
• Author: Julia Kratje
• Date: 01 March 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X20988719

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 237, Vol. 48 No. 2, March 2021, 33–46

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X20988719

© 2021 Latin American Perspectives

33

The Sexual Politics of Beauty

Reflections on Contemporary Argentine Cinema

by

Julia Kratje

Translated by

Victoria Furio

A sketch of the imagery of feminine beauty in contemporary Argentine cinema focus-

ing on the history of regional beauty pageants, the way bodies are displayed, and the

critique of conventional aesthetic parameters contributes to a comparative analysis of

the documentaries La reina (2013), by Manuel Abramovich, and La más bella niña

(2004), by Mariano Llinás, which demonstrate new approaches to old questions about

the sexual politics of beauty.

Un esbozo de la historia de los certámenes regionales, las condiciones de visibilidad

de los cuerpos y la crítica de los parámetros estéticos convencionales contribuye a un

análisis comparativo de los documentales La Reina (2013), de Manuel Abramovich, y

La más bella niña (2004), de Mariano Llinás, que demuestran nuevas derivas para

enfocar viejas preguntas alrededor de la política sexual de la belleza.

Keywords: Gender, Argentine cinema, Documentary, Beauty, Feminism

And what if beauty is a siren-song that beckons us to some ever longed-for fulfillment

to which we lend our ears so that every other tone and allure of life can only sound flat

and false beside it?

—Georg Simmel, “Beyond Beauty”

Anita Ekberg was chosen Miss Sweden in 1950. Although she was unable

to rise to the top in the Miss Universe pageant, she was hired as a model,

moved to the United States, and in Hollywood began acting for Universal

Studios. She later met Federico Fellini, who chose her for the part of Sylvia in

La dolce vita (1960). In “The Temptation of Dr. Antonio” an episode in Felllini’s

Boccaccio ’70 (1962), Ekberg plays a stunningly beautiful woman whose image

Julia Kratje is a professor at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, the Universidad Nacional de las

Artes, the Master’s program in gender studies of the Universidad de Ciencias Empresariales y

Sociales, and the Power and Society from a Gender Perspective program of the Universidad

Nacional de Rosario. Her research on Latin American film, funded by the Consejo Nacional de

Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, can be found at the Instituto Interdiciplinario de Estudios

de Género. Victoria Furio is a translator and conference interpreter located in Yonkers, NY.

988719LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X20988719Latin American PerspectivesKratje / Sexual Politics of Beauty in Argentine Cinema

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