Keywords
documentary film
LGBT
transgender
trans- sexual
drag performance
gender variance
body modification
Puerto Rico
diaspora
Abstract
There is an important number of documentary films focusing on Puerto Rican drag performance and transgender lives. Mala Mala
(2014) is exemplary in this respect, portraying civil rights activism, labor difficulties, the impact of transnational media, the negotiation of prejudice and stigma, and the great advances of LGBT visibility. By focusing on nine individuals, directors Antonio Santini and Dan Sickles, cinematographer Adam Uhl and editor Sofía Subercaseaux convey many complexities of this experience, including questions of language, body modification, migration, personal relationships, and aging. Some of the film’s limitations are its lack of greater representation of trans masculinities and of racial diversity. This article compares Mala Mala to several additional productions, proposing that this important corpus be recognized as a coherent whole. It also proposes mala mala (very bad, fierce) subjectivities as a form of resistant identity in Puerto Rico.
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