Performance, Television and Film: Bus 174 as a perverse case of appropriation of the means of constructing spectacular audiovisual form

Authors

  • Esther Hamburger Universidade de São Paulo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS24200885

Abstract

Urban violence, poverty and race have appeared as intrinsically connected themes in the recent boom of Brazilian film. These themes gained a sort of “hiper visibility” in the media that contrasts with their relative invisibility during the 70s, 80s and early 90s. This paper deals with the film 'Bus 174'. This specific case reveals the contradictory ways in which the TV cameras end up stimulating certain behavior – not so much for what is going to be shown, but for the fact of going on air itself. Therefore, the sense of breaking with the invisibility that had characterized the character’s life, with recurring victim positions, witness of bizarre tragedies, stimulates the protagonist to develop a performance for the cameras. Performance, Televisão and Cinema: Bus 174 enquanto um caso perverso de apropriação dos meios de construção de um formato audiovisual A violência urbana, a pobreza e a raça tem surgido no boom cinematográfico brasileiro como temas intrinsecamente ligados. Estes temas ganharam um tipo de "hipervisibilidade" nos media que contrasta com a sua relativa invisibilidade nos anos 70, 80, e início dos anos 90. O caso específico desenvolvido neste trabalho revela os modos contraditórios segundo os quais as lentes televisivas estimulam um certo comportamento - não tanto o que vai ser transmitido, mas o próprio facto de o ser. Neste sentido, a ruptura com a invisibilidade característica da vida dos personagens, nos seus posicionamentos recorrentes enquanto vítimas ou testemunhas de tragédias bizarras, estimula-os a desenvolver uma performance específica para as câmeras.

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Published

2008-11-20

How to Cite

Hamburger, E. (2008). Performance, Television and Film: Bus 174 as a perverse case of appropriation of the means of constructing spectacular audiovisual form. Observatorio (OBS*), 2(4). https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS24200885

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 4 (2008)

Section

Articles

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