ABSTRACT
In queer Sinophone studies, “viscerality” has at least two meanings. On the one hand, the concept of “viscerality” refers to theorizations by queer studies scholars, like Kyla Wazana Tompkins and Zeb Tortorici, who argue that we must consider the embodied and affective responses one has with archives of food and sex as signals of enduring and dynamic colonial histories. On the other hand, as this chapter traces, viscerality points to the feelings of unease or disgust one experiences when encountering cinematic representations of primitivism, namely filmic depictions of Indigenous peoples’ violent resistance to colonization. Regardless of verisimilitude and quality, the film’s stark focus on taking human heads as a trophy or spiritual offering, in conjunction with its scale of production, are not without precedent and notoriety. In historical epic films about Native peoples, the attempt by this genre of global cinematography to naturalize Indigenous headhunting and wild beast hunting amidst representations of the pre-industrial landscape churns against its own logic.
