Aos loucos, o hospício? A representação da instituição psiquiátrica na telenovela brasileira

Abstract

"To the madmen, the asylum!". When in the nineteenth century the members of the Imperial Academy of Medicine and the Faculty of Medicine of Rio de Janeiro used this slogan to demand the creation of hospices to house the madmen of the city, they were in line with what was most modern and revolutionary in Europe. At a time when the so-called alienated were collected in the streets and sent to public jails or the Holy Houses of Mercy and in these places suffered from moral reprimands to physical torture, a space destined only to them would solve two problems in one stroke: it would remove from the streets the disturbing element of order while at the same time restoring their reason from moral treatment. Thus, was inaugurated with pomp and circumstance the first Hospice of Brazil, which came to receive the name of Emperor Dom Pedro II and be considered a landmark of modernity. However, what history shows us is that, over time, various abuses have been committed in these institutions. It is not surprising, therefore, that Brazilian telenovelas, which have always sought to get closer to daily life and life, have so often made use of this resource as a stage for the misadventures experienced by their good guys and villains. In different stations, in different decades, we find a multitude of characters affected by madness or falsely accused of it and interned in psychiatric institutions that restrict their contact with the city and deprive them of everything that is dear to them. Considering the strength that telenovelas have in our country, especially those of the Globo broadcast, we propose an investigation and an analysis about how hospices are represented by them, from an empirical observation and having as theoretical reference Goffman's concept of total institutions, of clichés and stereotypes of Amossy and Pierrot and of representation of Stuart Hall. In line with what was established by Motter and Lopes, we consider the brazilian telenovelas as a genre of its own, which has peculiarities that distinguish it from both American soap operas and soap operas produced in other parts of the world. In addition to Motter and Lopes, our analysis of the brazilian telenovelas is also based on Hamburger's work. To achieve our goal, we chose as a methodological cut the telenovelas Caminho das Índias, O outro lado do Paraíso, Orgulho e Paixão and Além da ilusão, which contains important scenes set in psychiatric institutions.