Sentidos da masculinidade: Análise fílmica dos documentários “O silêncio dos homens” e “The mask you live in”

Abstract

This undergraduate thesis aims to understand what is presented as masculine in the Brazilian documentary “O Silêncio dos Homens” (2019), and in the American “The Mask You Live In” (2015), with both approaching the same theme: masculinity. From the referential of film analysis, in interpretation from visual and sound elements, and putting in perspective what means being a man, in view of the cultural conceptions of achieving success in Brazilian cultural conceptions (jeitinho brasileiro) and in American (self-made man), the research analyzes representations of 40 screen capture points, in which the particularities of visual structures (duration, angle, presence of movement, framing and scenery) and sound structures (description of sounds in the foreground and background) were explored through descriptive frames and the division of thematic blocks that build the meanings of the subjective and historical concept of masculinity. Both documentaries are based on the assumption of a need to change the hegemonic ideology from their social contexts, through different paths: in one of them, the male being is one who suffers and remains silent, while on the other they have to appear strong, therefore using a mask to hide their vulnerabilities.