Representações sociais da astúcia dos “Jecas” nos filmes de Mazzaropi: risos e lembranças em Centros de Convivência de Idosos do Paraná e de Lisboa

Abstract

Am·cio Mazzaropi, a Brazilian actor, producer, screenwriter and director, appeared in a total of 32 films between 1952 and 1980. Although several of these films are mentioned throughout the text, the analysis focuses on four of them. The study includes an empirical analysis of film club sessions with elderly people attending Community Centers in Paran· (Ponta Grossa, Ipiranga and Pinhais) and a Day Care Center in Lisbon, Portugal. The films Jeca Tatu (1959) and The Adventures of Pedro Malasartes (1960) were shown in these spaces, using the technique of observation with interaction and in-depth interviews. The aim was to analyze the cunning staging of the Jecas in Mazzaropi's films and the creation of social representations in the contrast between urban-rural/suburban spaces, as well as to identify these social representations manifested in laughter and memories. The perceptions of these subjects appear in the text interspersed with the film analysis. In addition, using the methodology of film analysis, two other films were analyzed from the point of view of the researcher: Sai da frente (1952) and Tristeza do Jeca (1961), seeking to understand the use of cunning in the characters to overcome the adversities of everyday life in a socio-historical context of concomitance between the rural and the urban. The research is based on the hypothesis that Mazzaropi's films not only provoke laughter and memories, but also function as a subtle critique of modernization and social hierarchies. In this sense, through the use of wit, they establish a counterpoint, highlighting the coexistence between the traditional and the modern. It was found that the films arouse laughter and memories, but with different motivations, with direct identification/affection or by association/alterity. Finally, in a complementary way, in the transatlantic context, the study makes associations between the Brazilian Jeca and the Portuguese character ZÈ Povinho, seeking to reflect on the symbologies built around them. It also analyses associations between the Saloios, historically marginalized rural inhabitants in Portugal, and the Brazilian caipiras, the group that inspired the construction of Mazzaropi's Jeca character. The aim is to compare the use of the expressions saloio and caipira in their undue epithets, and how they construct and resignify their representations.