Historical Fiction and the Age of Fake News

Abstract

What is at stake when visual production represents unresolved past histories? The recent debate over José Padilha’s series about the Lava Jato corruption scandal, O mecanismo (2018), raised questions about the responsibility of producers of historical fiction to represent the past accurately. The polemics regarding Padilha’s Netflix series echo the controversy surrounding Bruno Barreto’s film, O que é isso, companheiro? (1997), which was attacked for its portrayal of the military dictatorship and the armed struggle. Both represent histories that are highly contested as divergent versions of the past compete for dominance in the collective imaginary. Ann Rigney’s work on cultural remembrance offers a framework for thinking through the implications of historical fiction. This paper argues that the significance of these works to cultural memory lies in the debates they incite rather than how they portray the past.