História da obesidade no cinema mudo (1895-1927)

Abstract

The historical process of pathologization of obesity started in the late 18thcentury, but only started to become popular in the late 19th. Before that, corpulence, as it was called, was predominantly considered healthy, beautiful, strong, potent, among other qualities. This valuation inversion is configured as a mass sociological process. Thus, it was considered that cinema, born in the period of popularization of the pathologization of obesity, could have been a mass media tool for the dissemination of new values and pathological discourse. In order to investigate this hypothesis, the period of the history of cinema called Cinema Mudo was historiographed, which corresponds to the productions from 1895 to 1927. The theoretical-methodological basis, the historiographic conceptions of serial history, proposed by Barros; sociological aspects of the Theory of Social Representations of Moscovici, of the Theory of the Central Nucleus, of Abric and Flament; analytical analysis of the discourse analysis of Foucault's enunciation; and, Gadamer's hermeneutic-philosophical. Methodologically, twelve film series were composed, based on different criteria, according to the importance pointed out by cinema historians in secondary historical sources. The number of films in each series ranged from 1 to 318 films. In total, the sample featured 806 films and totaled 135 hours in length. All films were accessed for free through the youtube video platform. The procedure consisted of accessing the work and assisting it in searching for passages that contained contets related to the corpulence. The extracts considered relevant were extracted, with the aid of video editing software, and re-analyzed. Each series was analyzed separately, composing a separate article. A final article, seeking to account for all the series, was also produced, as well as a documentary montage, made available on the youtube video platform. The results made it possible to conclude that the theme was relatively underrated, adding up to only 3% of the total assisted duration. In addition, in 91% of the 243 stretches extracted there was indirect thematization. In some cases, the thematization was even implicated - that is, as a result of the actor's corporeality, without knowing whether this choice by the director was intentional or not. The analysis of the statements contained in the central nuclei of the social representations allowed to identify certain more or less recurrent discursive formations. Each section was classified in one or more of these formations, constituting twenty thematic categories in all, thus labeled: courage, sanity, generosity, gluttony, joy, form, beauty, compassion, volume, sexual appetite, mobility, skill, attractiveness, weight, cardiorespiratory fitness, morality, perspicacity, strength, socioeconomic position, aggressiveness. According to the Foucaultian analytical proposal, this discursive branch was not reduced to a single trunk in search of composing a linear history, since the establishment of causalities would be difficult and reckless, given that the research concentrated on representations, without external contextualization of the works , the director or the season. Finally, it was concluded that silent cinema may have played a more prominent role in the dissemination of new values related to body fat, but not so much of a pathological discourse, since few films were found that contained statements of this type.