“Nossos filhos verão”: fotografia e imaginário em Pantanal (2022)

Abstract

The Pantanal, home for an amount of animal and plant species, encompasses four biomes and, due to its immense importance, was recognized as a "Biosphere Reserve" by UNESCO in 2000. Furthermore, it serves as the setting for a soap opera with the same name. Pantanal had its first version aired in 1990 by the now-defunct TV Manchete, and in 2022, a remake by Rede Globo brought back the iconic characters that left a mark in the history of Brazilian soap operas, such as the Velho do Rio, Juma Marruá, and Zé Leôncio. The remake also allowed the current generation, who may not have been familiar with these and other characters, to engage with a new version of the story, which remained faithful to the original. However, the remake introduced changes in the proposed debates to align with a new social reality, as well as advancements in photography since the 1990s, which were highly praised by the soap opera's critics for their quality and potential to evoke diverse emotions in the audience. Among the various issues addressed in the plot of Pantanal (2022), the discussion in favor of environmental preservation stands out, utilizing more visuals than direct dialogue to address environmental crimes. Therefore, this work, following the studies of Gilbert Durand's Imaginary, analyzes how these images, techniques, and visual aspects of environmental photography in the soap opera actually reveal symbolic aspects of the Pantanal's imaginary. As a methodological process, this study can be understood as a cartography of the images in Pantanal 2022, which were divided into four elements: "water," "land," "fire," and "air," and analyzed through four analytical operators: visuality, temporality, relation with documentation, to ultimately arrive at the symbolic aspects.