Como tomar um susto: qualidade audiovisual e competência midiática na ficção seriada de horror contemporânea

Abstract

The objective of this research is to investigate fictional horror series in relation to their potential to foster the development and exercise of media literacy in contemporary society. It seeks to understand if, and in what areas, the specificities of the genre promote the denaturalization of the gaze through elements of audiovisual creation that configure specific positions of spectatorship. Machado (2000) and Fischer (2002) point to the pedagogical potential that television works bring, in their various formats and genres, by exercising their skills of perception, critical reflection, and sensitivity. In the case of horror, its characteristic trait of questioning the expressive possibilities of each medium in which it manifests itself (Hart, 2020) allows for the creative use of narrative and aesthetic elements that break, at various moments, with the norms of hegemonic audiovisual narrative (Metz, 1989). To investigate how genre characteristics impact audiovisual creation and the viewing experience, the theoreticalmethodological approach of Borges and Sigiliano (2021) – which analyzes audiovisual quality in serial fiction in relation to fostering media literacy – was complemented by concepts from Wood (1979) and Hart (2020) on the workings of horror. The indicators of the three levels of analysis of creation – content, expression, and message – were integrated with the concepts of monster function, sensational appeal, and politics of horror, respectively. This proposal was applied to the Brazilian series Desalma (Globoplay, 2020-2022), which bears the Globoplay Original label and was announced as bringing a leap in quality to the platform's productions. Its narrative blends elements of melodrama and horror in a complex plot that allows for a more active and nuanced viewing experience. For the application of the analytical parameters, a selection was made of narrative arcs that dialogue more directly with the genre, as well as sequences marked by stylistic excess (Williams, 2000). The use of typical horror figures, such as witches and ghosts, was also analyzed from their symbolic character of social representation. Therefore, it is concluded that, as a genre, horror demands an open attitude from the viewer regarding the narrative and aesthetic conventions naturalized by hegemonic production. Its questioning and countercultural character associates narrative, expressive, and ideological elements in works that, by explicitly attempting to affect their audience, highlight the influence that audiovisual language has on collective sensibilities and imagination.