But marialvism is not simply a question of basic machismo, or manly honour: it has a darker side too. An integral aspect of the concept is the dominance of the male over the female, an absolute need for inequality between the sexes, the practice of hegemonic masculinity. Though there is no explicit reliance on the Church in marialvism it relies on the concepts of the Immaculate Conception, Annunciation, etc. to define the woman and her role and it repeats the paternalism found in both mediaeval society and the Church to construct a role for women.
Marialvism is a concept of masculinity based on honour (aristocracy's value) opposed to rationalism (bourgeoisie's value).
In spite of a show off of paternalism the women have the real power, it's not per chance that Jesus' mother appeared in Fatima. They manipulate the strings, back stage.
The marialva is neither individualist nor libertine, he's nothing to do with Don Juan.
It's a model, connoted with reactionary mentality, like the saudade (no translation in English, but one in German, Sehnsucht), the fado (fatum) and the sebastianism, an ideal which in fact no man achieves but might control and orientate choices and actions and be expressed in the way of speaking, gestures and behaviour with others.
One thing is to try and understand Gonçalo Amaral, another to try and understand why he was made an anti-hero. Do only cultural factors explain this ?
