The Blind Spot of History: Colonialism in Tabu

Authors

  • Lúcia Nagib

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS0001812

Keywords:

Tabu, Portuguese cinema, Colonialism, Miguel Gomes, Realism

Abstract

This article looks at the film Tabu (Miguel Gomes, 2012) as an example of the negative use of cinema for realist ends. The film addresses Portugal’s tainted colonial past by means of a relentless questioning of the film medium and its representational properties, whilst the horrors of colonialism in Africa – the main issue at stake – remain conspicuous by their absence. Indeed, Tabu gravitates around an irresistible, all-consuming black hole, where the sombre legacy of colonialism makes itself felt by resisting representation. This article analyses two opposites, but complementary movements in the film: on the one hand, the foreclosure of history, and, on the other, the grounding of the story in the reality of both the objective world and the medium itself. The aim will be to define a possible truth procedure, as defined by Badiou, contained in the film’s self-defeating fantasy.

Downloads

Published

2020-09-28

How to Cite

Nagib, L. (2020). The Blind Spot of History: Colonialism in Tabu. Observatorio (OBS*). https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS0001812

Issue

Intermedialidades em imagens (pós)coloniais (Special Issue)

Section

Articles

License

Observatorio (OBS*) has an academic journal profile. As such, it is dedicated to the open exchange of its contents, and freely available to individuals and institutions without charge or formal permission. Copies of this journal or articles in this journal may be distributed for research or educational purposes free of charge and without permission. Authors will not be charged for publication or submission to this journal. Authors who publish in Observatorio (OBS*) will release their contributions under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-2.0 generic. This licence allows anyone to copy and distribute the article for non-commercial purposes provided that appropriate attribution is given - being the author the copyright holder. This journal utilizes the LOCKSS system to create a distributed archiving system among participating libraries and permits those libraries to create permanent archives of the journal for purposes of preservation and restoration. The publisher perpetually authorizes participants in the LOCKSS system to archive and restore our publication through the LOCKSS System for the benefit of all LOCKSS System participants. Specifically participating libraries may: • Collect and preserve currently accessible materials; • Use material consistent with original license terms; • Provide copies to other LOCKSS appliances for purposes of audit and repair. Fair use of a copyrighted work, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include: 1. the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes; 2. the nature of the copyrighted work; 3. the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; & 4. the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors. In accord with these provisions, the OBS journal believes in the vigorous assertion and defense of Fair Use by scholars engaged in academic research, teaching and non-commercial publishing. Thus, we view the inclusion of “quotations” from existing print, visual, audio and audio-visual texts to be appropriate examples of Fair Use, as are reproductions of visual images for the purpose of scholarly analysis. We encourage authors to obtain appropriate permissions to use materials originally produced by others, but do not require such permissions as long as the usage of such materials falls within the boundaries of Fair Use.