Representatividade importa? : representação, imagens de controle e uma proposta de representatividade a partir das personagens mulheres negras em Malhação: Viva a diferença

Abstract

Discussions about the representation of marginalized groups in cultural productions have taken up space in society, both in social networks and in everyday life. Our goal here is to understand what the notion of representativeness would really be, having as its object of study the black women characters in Malhação: Viva a Diferença (2017/2018) transmitted by Rede Globo. Based on the theoretical basis of representation, stereotypes as images of control, and a background that seeks to explain the absence and also the problematic presence of black characters in soap operas; this research aims to understand what constitutes an expanded notion of the concept of representativeness and why it matters, from the analysis of the black women characters in the soap opera Malhação: Viva a Diferença. To this end, we conducted a review of the notion of political representation and representativeness in this context, a presentation of social representation and symbolic representation, an approximation to the notion of representation by Stuart Hall and we highlight evidence that proves the differences between representation and representativeness. Then, we present Stuart Hall's theoretical basis on stereotypes, approach it with the notion of controlling images by Patricia Hill Collins and highlight the controlling images that act on Brazilian women from some intellectuals, among them Lélia Gonzalez; we also present resistances and challenges to stereotypes and control images. From the perspective of structural racism, intersectionality and a history of black female characters in soap operas, we highlight the absence and problematic presence of this group in this medium; we present the relevance of studying youth, representativeness as an emancipatory struggle and the importance of the empirical object. As an analysis, we used the notion of framing and the axes of resistance to control images. Our findings point to representativeness as an expanded and normative notion and, therefore, a process. It would then have seven axes: representation, quantitative, non-stereotypes, characters, layers, protagonism and production. We thus constituted a Representativity Test for checking representations in media products.