Assediadas, Estereotipadas e Submissas: as empregadas domésticas das telenovelas

Resumo (EN)

The present investigation aims to analyze the representations of domestic workers in telenovelas broadcast by TV Globo during the 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. time slots, aired for the first time between the years 2000 and 2018. We seek to highlight the particularities of these characters, which make them significant both within the context of the telenovelas and beyond the screen, in the real-life stories of domestic service professionals. At the same time, we reflect on themes such as abuse, mistreatment, prejudice, violence, and social inequalities. To select the telenovelas that meet our objective, we draw on the cartography method formulated by Deleuze and Guattari (2011), through which we conducted a mapping on the Portal Memória Globo in the “characters” section. In the preliminary phase of the research, this mapping made it possible to identify and select the telenovelas and the workers for our study. Thus, following the methodological path, it became possible to navigate the Portal and list a menu of 31 telenovelas featuring 81 domestic workers. Given the extensive number of characters within this telenovela universe, it became necessary to use an additional method to select the telenovelas containing the most representative workers in relation to the professional context of domestic labor and the purpose of this research. Due to the flexibility of cartography, we combine this method with content analysis as proposed by Bardin (2016) and Greco (2023). Within the research framework, cartography helps us follow processes and define a direction for conducting the investigation. Content analysis, together with the mapping, assists in defining the research corpus and in diagnosing the relationships between employers and domestic workers. With violence, labor exploitation, and prejudice as the central axes of discussion, we adopt intersectionality, inspired by Crenshaw (2002), as a methodological tool for our analyses. We begin by presenting excerpts and interfaces of the forms of violence used in constructing the characters’ narratives.