ABSTRACT
Manuel Puig creates a cinematic language reinforced by the spirit of “synthesis” and then incorporates a conceptual discourse which is beyond cinema because of the “limites de atencion” of a “lector cinematografico.” Puig expects readers to draw their own conclusions about the themes which emerge. Puig grew up in a small town in the Argentine pampas, General Villegas, which he viewed as dominated by traditional patriarchal values. Some of the stories that Puig uses to form the basis of Molina’s films are invented, for example the second film, Destino, which is used in Hector Babenco’s English-language adaptation of the novel. Merriam’s aforementioned “supra-personal forces” lie at the heart of Puig’s conceptual discourse: the development and analysis of the themes of homosexual masculinities, sexual liberation, exploitative power structures, and repression. Daniel Balderston demonstrates that the footnotes more evidently constitute a structured, analytical intervention by Puig himself.
