Arcs of Fire: Pyrophilia in <i>Iracema</i>, <i>O que arde</i> and <i>Huachicolero</i>
This essay examines three films that express a particular affinity with fire: <i>Ircaema: Uma Transa Amazônica</i> (1974), <i>O que arde</i> (2019) and <i>Huachicolero</i> (2019). While focusing on disparate socio-political settings, all three share an improvised,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Humanities |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/11/2/51 |
| _version_ | 1797434608044736512 |
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| author | John H. Trevathan |
| author_facet | John H. Trevathan |
| author_sort | John H. Trevathan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This essay examines three films that express a particular affinity with fire: <i>Ircaema: Uma Transa Amazônica</i> (1974), <i>O que arde</i> (2019) and <i>Huachicolero</i> (2019). While focusing on disparate socio-political settings, all three share an improvised, amateur style, utilizing raw and vulnerable filmmaking, involving risks for the cast and crew. Each film’s arc of fire has its own tempo unique to a time and a place, constructing an idiosyncratic representation of a novel fire regime, characterizing flames in terms of pattern, frequency and intensity. The protagonists in all three films possess forms of pyrophilia as they negotiate life on the screen burning in front of our eyes. The fires these films show us are the feral spawn of extractive economic practices at the core of modernity: logging, monoculture farming and oil extraction. In this regard, the wildfires analyzed here do not carry out a vital metabolic function for biomes but rather harm or possibly erase ecosystems and the biodiversity they sustain. In turn, such pyrotechnics have enabled different forms of fugitivity, insofar as the protagonists in these films are in flight from their own entanglement within these combustible landscapes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T10:34:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4379fe23985745e4aef0572c349c9eca |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-0787 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T10:34:58Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Humanities |
| spelling | doaj.art-4379fe23985745e4aef0572c349c9eca2023-12-01T20:59:39ZengMDPI AGHumanities2076-07872022-04-011125110.3390/h11020051Arcs of Fire: Pyrophilia in <i>Iracema</i>, <i>O que arde</i> and <i>Huachicolero</i>John H. Trevathan0Department of Language and Cultural Studies, University of Missouri, St. Louis, MO 63121, USAThis essay examines three films that express a particular affinity with fire: <i>Ircaema: Uma Transa Amazônica</i> (1974), <i>O que arde</i> (2019) and <i>Huachicolero</i> (2019). While focusing on disparate socio-political settings, all three share an improvised, amateur style, utilizing raw and vulnerable filmmaking, involving risks for the cast and crew. Each film’s arc of fire has its own tempo unique to a time and a place, constructing an idiosyncratic representation of a novel fire regime, characterizing flames in terms of pattern, frequency and intensity. The protagonists in all three films possess forms of pyrophilia as they negotiate life on the screen burning in front of our eyes. The fires these films show us are the feral spawn of extractive economic practices at the core of modernity: logging, monoculture farming and oil extraction. In this regard, the wildfires analyzed here do not carry out a vital metabolic function for biomes but rather harm or possibly erase ecosystems and the biodiversity they sustain. In turn, such pyrotechnics have enabled different forms of fugitivity, insofar as the protagonists in these films are in flight from their own entanglement within these combustible landscapes.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/11/2/51environmental humanitiesfire ecologyBrazilian cinemaGalician cinemaMexican cinema |
| spellingShingle | John H. Trevathan Arcs of Fire: Pyrophilia in <i>Iracema</i>, <i>O que arde</i> and <i>Huachicolero</i> Humanities environmental humanities fire ecology Brazilian cinema Galician cinema Mexican cinema |
| title | Arcs of Fire: Pyrophilia in <i>Iracema</i>, <i>O que arde</i> and <i>Huachicolero</i> |
| title_full | Arcs of Fire: Pyrophilia in <i>Iracema</i>, <i>O que arde</i> and <i>Huachicolero</i> |
| title_fullStr | Arcs of Fire: Pyrophilia in <i>Iracema</i>, <i>O que arde</i> and <i>Huachicolero</i> |
| title_full_unstemmed | Arcs of Fire: Pyrophilia in <i>Iracema</i>, <i>O que arde</i> and <i>Huachicolero</i> |
| title_short | Arcs of Fire: Pyrophilia in <i>Iracema</i>, <i>O que arde</i> and <i>Huachicolero</i> |
| title_sort | arcs of fire pyrophilia in i iracema i i o que arde i and i huachicolero i |
| topic | environmental humanities fire ecology Brazilian cinema Galician cinema Mexican cinema |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/11/2/51 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT johnhtrevathan arcsoffirepyrophiliainiiracemaiioqueardeiandihuachicoleroi |