Aldo Miyashiro’s "Once Machos" (2017): The Apparent De-Construction of Masculinity in a Contemporary Peruvian “Kickflick”

• In Event: Contested Masculinities in Sport

Abstract

In “Atiguibas”—a short story published in 1992—Peruvian writer Julio Ramón Ribeyro describes the soccer atmosphere he experienced in Lima as a child in the late 1930s. At the old National Stadium, lower-class soccer fans ate, drank and smoked what street vendors offered in the tribunes while watching all type of games. These spectators were all men, the narrator adds, for “in this time, no woman attended games at the stadium. Soccer was just for machos.”

Eight decades later, things have changed in Peruvian society as the number of female soccer fans attending games has skyrocketed in recent years. However, regarding the representation of soccer in Peruvian literature and films, this macho scenario is still similar to what Ribeyro describes in "Atiguibas." In fact, if we examine a few Peruvian “kickflicks” (movies that use soccer as their main topic,) we can see that they emphasize the construction of masculinity while the female characters are portrayed following gender stereotypes or as mere accompanying figures defined by their relationship with a male protagonist.

This paper analyzes a film that, at first sight, challenges this sexist ideology. Aldo Miyashiro’s Once Machos (2017) portrays a group of lower middle class men who struggle financially, professionally and emotionally; if the once machos want to keep their homes, they need to defeat a professional soccer team a real estate agency hired. Despite seemingly de-constructing the protagonists' masculinity, the film actually shows that fútbol in Peru is still seen as an activity “just for machos” in the 21st century.

Author

• Jesús Hidalgo Campos, University of Washington Seattle