THE PHANTASMAGORICAL DEAD OF EVA PERÓN REPRESENTATIONS IN THE CINEMA AND THEATRE: THE PURPOSE OF "EVITA, LA TUMBA SIN PAZ" AND "EVA PERÓN EN LA HOGUERA"

Abstract

In the 90s, cinema and theatre placed themselves as a political answer against the depoliticization of menemist society, recovering the meaning of Eva Peron’s body. That is how Tristan Bauer shot the documentary Evita, la tumba sin paz (1997) and Iris Scaccheri made, with Cristina Banegas, a play based on the poem Eva Perón en la hoguera (1972), by Leónidas Lamborghini. The objective of this analysis is to think how death is re-signified in both works of art, which postulate different artistic registers and devices. From our point of view, all representation faces the problem of the contents of reality, and in this particular case death has elements that surround the objective fact of finity in the relationship between body and subject. For us, while Eva Perón en la hoguera gives the actress’ body a phantasmagorical nature through the gestures and body positions showed in certain photographs, Bauer’s documentary takes Evita’s body as a phantasmagorical material emphasizing the use of the same device: photography. Most of these photographs show the corpse and do not register the political activity. In order to analyze how this theme is developed we use certain historical sources based in the material shown in the documentary and images from the photo book - “Eva Perón” edited by the Subsecretaría de la Nación in June 4th 1952- used in the play. On the other hand, understanding the ephemeral nature of theatre, we work with video footage of the play recorded in 1994. We also use as a source an interview conducted with Cristina Banegas specially for this paper and journalistic material which records the social impact of both works of art.