O corpo monstruoso: da espetacularização midiática às práticas de resistência

• Autor(a) principal: Souza, Virgínia Laís de
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da PUC_SP
• Texto Completo: https://tede2.pucsp.br/handle/handle/4521
• topic: Corpomídia; Comunicação; Monstro; Estigma; Bodymedia; Communication; Monster; Stigma; CNPQ::CIENCIAS SOCIAIS APLICADAS::COMUNICACAO

This research aims to analyze how the media reaffirms and strengthens stigmata of the body, that have been perpetuated since the freak shows of the nineteenth century. During this period, exhibits of monstrous bodies began to be used to entertain the audience, becoming particularly popular in Europe and the United States (COURTINE, 2008). The main hypothesis of this research is that the use in mediatic spectacles of the image of a body that is viewed as marginal in society, further reinforces its stigmatization, and this trend becomes stronger when allied to a market logic of profits and to reach masses, as is typical of some media such as television (SODRÉ, 1994). Representations conveyed by different media (especially television, film, photography) are discussed in the present research. Among these representations are: My Shocking Story (Discovery Channel, 2007), Black Venus (2010), The Elephant Man (1980) and photographs of Diane Arbus (period between 1960 and 1971). In terms of methodology, we highlight two ways of constructing the monstrous body: the first and most common understands the body as eccentric product with the ability to increase the popularity ratings of the media where they are presented; the second avoids stigmatizing the body as abnormal by highlighting their singularities and proposing a redefinition of stereotypes. On visual arts it is possible to find several artists interested in subverting the stereotype of a monstrous body, for example: Orlan, Patricia Piccinini, Rodrigo Braga and Cindy Sherman. The theoretical discussion is based on research that has discussed the relations of the body with different environments, understanding the image of the body as a construction and never as a presupposition. (e.g: GREINER and KATZ, 2005, 2010; FOUCAULT, 2002, 2010). The expected result is to collaborate with debates that study the role of the body in the media, without, however, failing to recognize the body as bodymedia