Cinema, territorial stigmatization and urban history: "the red light bandit" and the "boca do lixo" in São Paulo

Abstract

In this article we propose an analysis of the film "The Red Light Bandit" (1968), by the director Rogério Sganzerla. Considered as one of the forerunners of "Marginal Cinema", the film is approached from the perspective of Urban History, in order to understand how the process of stigmatization of the central region of the city, particularly the area called "Boca do Lixo" as the locus of crime and violence. Assuming that the imaginary of the "underworld" is a social construction, it is sought to examine the role of the mass media and the cultural industry, particularly cinema, in this process.