Prodigal daughters: portraying lesbians in Hispanic Caribbean cinema

During the last twenty years, Hispanic Caribbean cinema has slowly developed roles to represent lesbians. In order to draw a conceptual map and to examine the un/successfulness of this new lesbian “public image,” I analyze both independent films that challenge the status quo by portraying openly lesbian characters and mainstream films that insist on denying autonomy to same-sex love. Whereas commercial markets may deem an openly lesbian role transgressive, queer female roles can be considered “appropriate.” Gender-queering functions as a symbolically transitional stage toward lesbian visibility and inclusion.