Peruvian regional cinema: Transtextuality, gender and violence in Bullying maldito, la historia de María Marimacha

Abstract

This chapter analyses the connections between the Ayacuchean film Bullying maldito, la historia de María Marimacha [Damned Bullying, the Story of María Marimacha] (Mélinton Eusebio, 2015), American horror and B-series movies, and the Peruvian legend of María Marimacha. It also discusses the film's poster in relation to testimonies of sexual abuse suffered by women in Ayacucho during the Peruvian internal armed conflict. These transtextual connections reveal how the film and its poster together critique the heteropatriarchal norms and the fear of feminine agency held in Andean communities. They also speak to the wider context of the violence suffered by women in the region during the 1980s and 1990s.