Author:

Keywords:

Photo narrative, Popular culture, Intercultural exchange, Intermediality

Abstract:

The present research aims at investigating the birth and further developments of the photonovel when taken out of its original context and inserted into a different culture such as the Brazilian one. On a first moment we’ll need to define what a photonovel is, in order to later evaluate the changes it may suffer in the process of being assimilated by a foreign culture. This will be attempted by an evaluation and analysis of the context in which the photonovel appeared and that, as we believe, favored such appearance. The process should be analog to that outlined and followed by Michael Baxandall in explaining works of art according to the circumstances surrounding their conception. In the case of the photonovel, these circumstances are represented by other forms of mass entertainment of the period, namely the comics, the cinema and the feuilleton. Having drawn a comprehensive picture of what a photonovel looks like and why, we are then ready to confront it with another environment. The second part of this research evaluates the arrival of the photonovel in Brazil, how and why it survived there, and in doing so hopes to find clues for its disappearance. With such purpose, part two of this research begins with an analysis of the economic, political and, most importantly, cultural landscape of Brazil, in order to understand was the situation when the arrival of the photonovel, what problems it had to face and what may have made it easier for it to settle down. From there, we proceed to a study of the magazines which contained the photonovels themselves, as well as every other kind of form of signification which surrounded it and contributed to its image as a product directed to a very specific public. The last part then examines the photonovels themselves, the multitude of possible genres and mainly the one most associated with the format, the romantic photonovel. The findings here are to be compared with the ones from part one, in the attempt to understand the modifications the photonovel suffered in the process. Hopefully, we will be able to at least draw some hypothesis as to why it disappeared.