Em briga de marido e mulher... : representações da violência doméstica na telenovela O Outro Lado do Paraíso e valores da sociedade brasileira contemporânea

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to analyze the representations of domestic violence, values and social roles attributed to women and men which emerge in the closed soap opera O Outro Lado do Paraíso as well as what they reveal about contemporary Brazilian society. The starting point is the interactional situation that places women and men in a context of violence within the aforementioned fictional work, shown by Rede Globo, between 2017 and 2018, at 9 pm. Therefore, this theoretical basis is built from the discussion of concepts such as soap operas, representation, domestic violence, gender issues and social values, under the perspective of Communication. The methodology is operationalized by the analysis of the interactive situation (MENDONÇA; SIMÕES, 2012), invoking the concept of frame, proposed by Erving Goffman (2012). The empirical selection of the research consists of the main violent events between the couple Clara (Bianca Bin) and Gael (Sérgio Guizé) in the closed soap opera, based on three categories for the selection of the analyzed scenes: 1) Gael presented as aggressor and Clara as victim, in the first stage of the soap opera. In this case, the scenes in which the situation of violence is represented will be selected according to the category provided by the Maria da Penha Law; 2) the strategic use of domestic violence as a test of confidence in Gael, in the second stage of the soap opera; and 3) how the story of the characters Clara and Gael was completed, taking into account the involvement in the situation of violence. From the apprehension of the forms of representation of domestic violence in Rede Globo's closed soap opera the work has sought to analyze: 1) which meaning frames are triggered in the representation of domestic violence and how the characters are positioned in the interactive situation; 2) based on these meanings, how values and social roles of women and men emerge from the representation of violence; 3) and which features are present in these representations that point to the subject's experience in the face of this violence in contemporary Brazilian society. The analysis revealed that throughout the closed soap opera the five types of domestic violence categorized by the Maria da Penha Law were represented. However, due to the limits of the representation of this television show format, only physical violence was explicitly framed as domestic violence and familiar. As for the other types of domestic violence (sexual, psychological, patrimonial and moral), it could be noticed that they were many times used as resources to compose the narrative. It is believed that this limited representation is prone to reinforce the concept present in common sense: only beaten women are victims of domestic violence. Other findings connected to the values and social roles of men and women present in the foregoing audiovisual work demonstrate that it often reinforces traditional gender values and roles, such as virility, possessiveness and aggressiveness of men in opposition to submission, innocence and female domesticity. Thus, it can be affirmed that O Outro Lado do Paraíso brings to light domestic and family violence against women, an important issue to be addressed and debated in the public scene. At the same time, it gets back to traditional representations of the meanings of gender relations that confine women to male subordination and discrimination, furthermore, their success accomplished through marriage.