Entre o silêncio e a resposta: da mulher (mal) falada à mulher que fala

Abstract

This study is justified by observing different narrative voices in songs, allowing us to understand how representations of women are constructed and transformed in popular songs, and aims to analyze the representation of women in the songs A Rita (1966) e Resposta da Rita (2013), seeking to answer the following research question: how does the change in narrative voice influence the construction of the female character and modify the meanings produced about her? The research is based on the hypothesis that the change in narrative voice not only alters the representation of the character but also enables new meanings about Rita, allowing her to stop being constructed solely through the male gaze of lyrical self, and instead have her own voice, giving new meaning to her story. The theoretical framework is based on family representation and the historical silencing of women, as well as on the concepts of silence, subject, and meaning production, in order to understand the discursive constructions present in the songs. The methodology is qualitative and bibliographical, supporting a comparative analysis of the lyrics of the two songs by considering their narrative and discursive elements, as well as the effects of meaning arising from the change in narrative voice in the construction of the female character. The results show that, in A Rita, the character is constructed from de male speaker’sperspective, emphasizing the losses experienced by him. In contrast, in Resposta da Rita, the character assumes her own voice and presents her version of the story, challenging the previous narrative and ceasing to be the object of the male narrative to become the subject of her own story. It is concluded that the shift in narrative voice, from the woman who is spoken about to the woman who speaks, constitutes a fundamental element in the reconstruction of Rita’s character, demonstrating howdifferent enunciative perspectives producenew representations of women. Thus, this study uses Brazilian popular music to reflect on how women are represented in song lyrics, contributing to discussions in the fields of literature, gender studies, and discursive constructions.