In Brazilian society what are the fears of women? Are these fears conditioned by different reasons linked to issues of class, gender and race? These are the questions that will be discussed in ‘Falas Femininas, Histórias Impossíveis’, a new miniseries by Rede Globo.
The work is authored by three black women: Grace Passô, Renata Martins and Jaqueline Souza. With 5 episodes, ‘Falas Femininas, Histórias Impossíveis’ intends to approach, through different racial and gender perspectives, using everyday metaphors, some ephemeris of the year: Indigenous Peoples Day, LGBTQIAPN+ Pride Day, National Day of Elderly People and Day of Black Consciousness.
The intention is for the miniseries to be able to dialogue with the general public on current and important issues for society, unmasking inequalities present in everyday life through trauma, prejudice and violence that are normalized in Brazil. The script seeks to explore circumstances of social ‘horror’ caused by profoundly unequal power relations with touches of fantasy and suspense.
Last Friday (3), the black soul Journalism accompanied the release of ‘Falas Femininas, Histórias Impossíveis’, which saw the first episode, entitled ‘Mancha’, and a chat with the authors, directors and actresses in Rio de Janeiro.
The episode depicts the relationship between Mayara, a maid played by actress Luellem de Castro, and her boss, Laura, played by Isabel Teixeira, changes after Mayara decides to invest in her studies after passing the entrance exam. Mayara believes that Laura is a different boss, until the moment when the employer asks her to give up her career and continue working at her house.
Despite being a very present theme in Brazilian audiovisual production, for Everlane Moraes, director of the episode and newcomer to Rede Globo, the importance of telling this story lies in the frontality with which the authors and the director decided to develop racial and class themes.
She points out that, even with many existing stories about the relationship between maids and their bosses, “generally loaded with stereotypes and tragic endings, the episode ‘Mancha’ promotes other annoyances and possibilities for both the characters and the public” in her words.
In an interview with black soulscreenwriter Grace Passô says that the intention of this episode is that the general public can recognize their reality in this story and the absurdities of our daily life:
“The episode ‘Mancha’ starts from a DNA situation of our Brazilian reality. […] What I hope, above all, is that people can recognize their own daily lives in this fiction and also recognize that Brazilian reality has genres and often mixes horror with fantasy. I hope that the general public can recognize the absurdities present in our daily reality”, explains Passô.
The episode is in celebration of International Women’s Day, a date still closely linked to white feminism in the quest for recognition and guarantee of rights. For artistic director Luísa Lima, when questioned about this, she says that the series should encourage the public to recognize the different experiences of being a woman in Brazil in the face of issues of race and class.
“This series highlights the importance of seeing the condition of women from different points of view, because being a woman means a lot. “, says the director.
“I think it’s very important for white women who are more used to recognizing themselves on this International Women’s Day to realize that they need to leave this egoic place in their own lives, look at other women in different conditions and also know how to contribute to the transformation of this inequality perpetuated with each other” complete.
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