Mulheres à frente e atrás das câmeras: uma leitura do protagonismo feminino em A árvore de Marcação, de Jussara Queiroz

Abstract

This research discusses the female representation and protagonism in the movie A árvore de Marcação (1987-1993), directed by Jussara Queiroz. We consider that the female protagonism happens in two ways: through the trajectory of the director, because she was the first woman to make movies in Rio Grande do Norte, a Brazilian Northeast state, and also by female characters, analyzing their participation and contributions to the film narrative. Therefore, we will bring texts and debates related to gender issues, focusing on how this discussion penetrates media studies and results in the Feminist Film Theory, which talks about women in film direction and their protagonism. Cinema was one of main mass media during the twentieth century and, along with its popularization, language and market development, it has fundamental changes in women social roles, triggering transformations in the forms of representation, as well, the appropriation of film production by women. From this, we make a list of female directors in Brazilian Cinema, observing such changes and their protagonism, names, themes and how these films approaches the representation of women and the female universe until the context of the “Retomada” in the 1990s, when is an increase of women on film direction around the country. Finally, we will focus on the trajectory of Jussara Queiroz and her work, observing how the category of "northeastern women" crosses both stereotypes, from author to characters, and how female protagonism is a possibility in the movie.