Romances fantásticos e como se atualiza a ficção endereçada a meninas em Shadow and Bone (Netflix, 2021-2023)

Abstract

This thesis investigates the discourses on gender and sexuality that Shadow and Bone (Netflix, 2021-2023) chooses to produce or reintroduce when adapting the novels of the Grisha trilogy (2013, 2014, 2015) and the Ketterdam duology (2016, 2017), by Leigh Bardugo. The research examines how heterosexuality, as a norm, organizes sexuality under a regime of utility that hierarchizes relationships, in order to hide and subordinate romantic and friendship bonds between women. The thesis analyzes the novels Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows: Blood and Lies, by Leigh Bardugo, and the first season of their serial adaptation to discuss adherences and refusals to gender and sexuality norms in fiction addressed to girls, based on the categories of body, love, sex and friendship. The pedagogical role of fiction is discussed based on a queer, intersectional, and decolonial theoretical framework informed by Judith Butler, Gayle Rubin, Michel Foucault, Audre Lorde, María Lugones, and Oyèrónké Oyewùmí, among others. To understand the historicity of fiction aimed at girls, the thesis investigates the origins of popular and children's literature, as well as the development of commercial literature offered to young people, in addition to discussing the history of serialized television fiction based on the intersection between women and fantasy on TV. In addition, the work discusses how the Netflix series expands and updates the web of meanings initiated by the novels analyzed and, by incorporating greater ethnic-racial and gender diversity, attempts to break with some conventions of the fantasy genre. However, the hierarchies of gender and sexuality remain, with heteronormative relationships still centralizing the plot. Although there have been advances in the representation of LGBTQIAPN+ characters in the series, the story maintains that female characters mainly relate to men, and dissident sexualities remain limited to a less prominent space. The results indicate that heteronormativity, as an analytical key to understanding relationships of love and friendship, continues to influence contemporary audiovisual and literary production, even though attempts are made towards inclusion and diversity. In the end, the thesis highlights how adaptations reflect tensions between social norms and new identity representations. We conclude that the textualities analyzed, although updated with each adaptive gesture, tend to reinforce the heterosexual norm, which discourages relationships between women, pushes them towards men, and hides diverse knowledge about sex and its practices.