Representações da homossexualidade nas charges do Lampião da Esquina e do O Pasquim durante a Ditadura Civil-Militar (1970-1980).

Abstract

This study conducts a critical analysis of the cartoons published in the alternative newspapers Lampião da Esquina (197831981) and O Pasquim (196931991), focusing on homosexual representations and the contributions these newspapers made during the civil-military dictatorship. The cartoons created and disseminated serve as evidence of the worldviews embedded in both newspapers: on one side, a newspaper that values the gay movement, and on the other, one in which prejudice against homosexuals prevails. The editors of both newspapers use their articles to produce content that reinforces their beliefs and struggles while simultaneously disregarding other movements. This research considers the period of the civil- military dictatorship (196431985) and the strategies of repression and persecution against these alternative newspapers, analyzing the cartoons and articles to understand and explain the context. Lampião da Esquina gave a voice to a minority in an unprecedented way, becoming a historical milestone, as the homosexual movement was being built at that time through literary, historical, and cinematic perspectives. O Pasquim, in turn, marked an era and became a publishing phenomenon, exceeding sales expectations and reaching a stable circulation of 225,000 copies by its 32nd edition in January 1979, just seven months after its launch. In this regard, the study aims to understand the editorial proposals of these alternative newspapers and how they used cartoons to represent homosexuals. It questions what kind of content was being produced by the newspapers and how stereotypes about gay men were created. To analyze the newspapers' discourse, it was necessary to understand the historical context and the definition of alternative newspapers, recognizing that they produced and disseminated cartoons featuring homosexual characters with different objectives. Hence, our effort to investigate the cartoons and their satirical content, considering that their creators were mostly white, middle-class men.