O derretimento da família margarina: diálogos entre a Comunicação e a Psicanálise na apreensão de não-ditos em Os Simpsons

Abstract

Besides informing, the television also has the purpose to entertain the individual who stands in front of it. Such purpose is not detached from the sociocultural context: although it is associated to domestic comfort, television frequently reflects real world issues on its entertainment products, which can be approached by a humorous way through comedy series. This is often linked to non-saids, which, far more than permeating the fictional context, also pervades human relations – among these, the familiar ones. Thus, this work is an interface between Communication and Psychoanalysis, and discusses the American sitcom The Simpsons. This is a qualitative research whose main objective was to capture meanings that clarify the non-saids which permeate the series regarding the family and its connection to the cultural alterity to which it is alleged. We used as theoretical basis studies concerning television as a means of mass communication; family as an audience, entertainment theme and social instance; and humor as a human manifestation that provides new insights into interpersonal issues. We used Psychoanalysis in two ways: as a theoretical basis and in an appropriation of its interpretative method to analyze three episodes of The Simpsons, obeying the free association and floating listening, taking into account the affectation of the researcher. For such, we adopted as motto four possible familiar organizations (modern, traditional, tentacle and single-parented) and defined yet two kinds of media family: the butter family and the melted margarine family – the latest one being our conception, based on the pre-existing concept of butter family. Our analysis suggests that The Simpsons, as a series featuring a protagonist family influenced by and influencer of an alterity, is a rich source of non-saids – and, also, of reflections.