Brasil na tela: a narrativa da nação a partir das telenovelas brasileiras e seus alcances transnacionais (1970-1985)

Abstract

Brazilian teledramaturgy is recognized worldwide as a reference for productions that propose a realistic style. The assumed aesthetics, therefore, demanded that the genre adapts to the demands of the public, who, in general, were interested in narratives that were based on social reality. This entire process resulted in what is now considered to be a Brazilian tipically teledramaturgy and that is marked by certain specificities. The main one refers to the political scenario, since the 1970s represents, above all for the Brazilian media, a period of authoritarianism and censorship by the military. Given this, we have as object of study the narratives about the national and, more specifically about the Racial Relations in Brazil transmitted by the Brazilian teledramaturgy between the decades of 1970 to 1980. In the analysis, we carried out the study of three soap operas produced by Rede Globo, being they: “O Bem-Amado” (1973); “Gabriela” (1975), and “Escrava Isaura” (1976). These were the first soap operas produced by the broadcaster that committed to establish dialogues with the Brazilian social reality, besides, these productions were the first to cross the national border, reaching several other countries and becoming the main diffusers of narratives about Brazil. In more specific terms, we seek to: a) Map the cultural codes narrated by Brazilian television drama between the years 1970 and 1980; b) Analyze what are the relationships between the cultural codes narrated and the national socio-political context; c) Understand to what extent the national collective imagination, specifically the idea of race and racial democracy, influenced by television drama, sought dialogues with transnational contexts. To build our reflections we use the theoretical contributions of Cultural and Post-Colonial Studies. In methodological terms, the present work consists of a documentary research, which included analysis and systematization of the novels according to the techniques of Content Analysis, seeking to categorize, among other aspects: the characteristics of black characters; their relationships in the plots; the plots in which they circulate; historical narratives; how slavery and racism are approached; and the meanings about Africa and African descent present in these materials. The research it also has a documentary survey of data on the selected novels, as well as on the internationalization process experienced by the broadcaster, obtained from searches of documentation centers such as the Arquivo Memória Globo and the Multimeios Archive (IDART). Therefore, the aesthetic turn in the productions is historically configured as a successful recipe for Rede Globo. However, we can consider that, in parallel, this so-called formula corroborates the maintenance of certain meanings, which in a certain way, dialogue directly with a discrimination structure in force in Brazilian society. The typically Brazilian language carries with it codes that have not become detached from racialized meanings about blacks in Brazil. For this reason, the present research aimed to trace this past, understanding the configuration of these cultural codes, procedurally, from the movements in which these narratives they are revisited and updated in contemporary times.