Entre o conservadorismo religioso e a transgressão de gênero : uma investigação semiótica do filme Paloma, de Marcelo Gomes

Abstract

This work analyzes the film Paloma, released in 2022, under the direction of Marcelo Gomes based on the theoretical-methodological postulates of Greimasian-based semiotics, also called as French semiotics. The narrative of the feature film is inspired by the true story of a trans woman who faces the ire of a small country town in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil when she decided to fight for her dream of getting married in the Catholic church, with a veil and garland. The movie that is centered on the trajectory of this trans woman, introduces us to the main character Paloma, from which relations of power and identity are developed during all the narrative. In view of this, this work aims, in general, to investigate the processes of production of meaning of trans identity in the film Paloma (2022), by Marcelo Gomes. To achieve that general objective, we describe the narrative path of the protagonist, determining her objects of value, the processes of placement in the cinematographic discourse of actors, time and space of the filmic narrative, seeking to identify the themes addressed from the recurrence of discursive figures and their interdiscursive relations in the film. Then, we analyze the relations of meanings between the visual plane of the feature film and the filmic narrative. Regarding the theoretical-methodological framework used here, The Greimasian semiotics seeks to understand how meanings are produced and interpreted in texts and speeches based on the generative path of meaning composed of the fundamental, narrative and discursive levels (Greimas; Courtés, 2016). The present research follows a qualitative approach and is characterized as a case study (Severino, 2013). Furthermore, it follows the methodology of Greimasian semiotics from its generative path of signification and its subsequent developments. The results demonstrate that Paloma's identity is constructed, in the film, from the social forces that affect her, situating her between borders, to the extent that Paloma challenges the conceptions of gender when she pursues her goal of affirming herself as a woman, making explicit the performative character of gender and sexuality.