Gendering Globalized Flows in Bertrand Bonello’s Tiresia

Abstract

Abstract. Presented as the conciliatory voice of wisdom, Teiresias, the blind theban seer who had been both man and woman, exemplifies how transcending gender can lead to a questioning of normative, victimizing cultural mandates within the polis. This gender-bending acquires further applications in the 2003 film, Tiresia, about the myth-informed travails of a transsexual brazilian illegal immigrant prostitute in france. The film daringly deconstructs the dividing lines within contemporary globalized flows: immigrants vs. citizens, men vs. women, dogma vs. humanity. The performative gender of "tiresia" exposes but also exacerbates the effects of cultural violence, yet also intimates peaceful alternatives. Keywords: Teiresias; Tiresia; Bonello; gender; immigration; transsexuality; androgyny; globalization; Greek myth; performativity.[es] Corrientes globalizadas de la ideología de género en Tiresia de Bertrand BonelloResumen. Voz conciliadora de la sabiduría, Tiresias, el adivino tebano que había sido tanto hombre como mujer, ejemplifica cómo trascender el género puede llevar a un cuestionamiento de la norma, victimizando los mandatos culturales dentro de la polis. Esta mezcla de géneros adquiere nuevas aplicaciones en la película Tiresia (2003), sobre los esfuerzos mito-informados de una prostituta transexual brasileña que vive como inmigrante ilegal en Francia. La película desconstruye atrevidamente las líneas divisorias dentro de las corrientes globalizadas contemporáneas: inmigrante vs. ciudadano, hombre vs. mujer, dogma vs. humanidad. Su género performativo expone y exacerba los efectos de la violencia cultural, pero también incluye alternativas pacíficas.

Symbolic Mythology: The Portrayal of Gender Fluidity in Kae Tempest Selected Poems

“…Related to myth, the term neutral and gender fluidity correlates to the mythology of Tiresias from Oedipus. Dokou ( 2017) had found that in Bonello"s aestheticism, Tiresias has presented the gender-bending paradigm which blend also creativity between mythic universe with the paradoxes and archetype life in the medium of film. Thus, the recent gender phenomenon has been represented by myth in flowing images or symbols to explore that phenomenon itself.…”