Addressing the dialectics of sexual difference in Eisenstein's Que viva México!

Abstract

This essay proposes a new reading of Sergei Eisenstein's conception of dialectics through his unfinished filmQue viva México! (1930-31), and his writings, both personal and theoretical, about it. The essay explores the filmapos;s treatment of women and indigenous people within the context of contemporary Mexican culture, engaging with feminist film theory and offering a critique of semiotics. It further links images of transgressive sexuality in the film to Eisensteinapos;s later writing on the protoplasm and the bi-sex understood as an originary state of nature and human consciousness, prior to sexual differentiation. The materials drawn upon here have not previously been translated into English, nor discussed at length by other scholars. The conclusion addresses the traumatic impact that the loss of the footage of Que viva México! had on the Soviet director, bringing to bear in the analysis the metaphors used in Eisensteinapos;s writing about the film.