Searching for the Erotic: Boundaries of Male Same-sex Desire in Caribbean Film

This article analyzes the representation of male same-sex desire in recent films by black Caribbean filmmakers, focusing on the narrative feature-length film Children of God (2009), written and directed by Kareem Mortimer, in contrast to the short film Riding Boundaries (2012), directed by Kerry Bovell, produced by Sekou Charles, and featuring poetry by Colin Robinson. I examine the difficulties in representing same-sex eroticism in the Caribbean because of larger societal concerns—from grappling with homophobic violence and internalized self-hate and shame to the dominant place of religion in Caribbean societies, which dramatically affects any engagement with sexuality. I focus on male same-sex desire in this article to situate roots of homophobia located at the intersections of misogyny, fear of the erotic and the feminine, and heterosexist patriarchy. Hence, I search for the erotic in these cinematic representations and ask when it is (ever) possible to imagine and thereby represent the expansiveness of the erotic, of desire, of love outside the bounds of religion, patriarchy, and colonial violence.