Narrative analysis of the webseries Imaginário: folkmidia perspectives, the fantastic and the horror in the work of bruno esposti

Abstract

How can a serial fiction product use elements of Brazilian folklore, in combination with the fantastic and the horror, to build its narrative? Based on this question, the present work analyzes the webseries Imaginário (2016), by filmmaker Bruno Esposti, which narrates, in each chapter, an urban or folkloric legend of Brazil. This article aims, therefore, to detect the intersections between national folklore, digital media and horror in audiovisual. In order to carry out this study, firstly a theoretical contextualization about the webseries, the media narratives and the webseries Imaginário is presented. Then, a conjuncture in relation to Brazilian folklore is briefly described, recovering epistemological discussions of Folkcommunication (MARQUES DE MELO, 2007; BENJAMIN, 2007), especially in its so-called folkmídia (LUYTEN, 2002; D'ALMEIDA, 2003). After that, aspects of fantastic narrative and horror are presented, based mainly on studies by Todorov (1970) and Cánepa (2008). Subsequently, the webseries Imaginário is analyzed, observing its main narrative elements interesting to the audiovisual, as pointed out by Bordwell and Thompson (2013), based on the analysis script by Gancho (1991), in dialogue with semantic aspects of folk culture compiled by Cascudo (2005). Finally, the final considerations of the research are developed, highlighting the main learnings and considerations made during the research. Among the main results, it is noticed that the webseries can be configured as an audiovisual serial fiction format capable of rescuing elements of folklore and popular culture (Folkcommunication), resignifying them and presenting them in a massive way (folkmedia) for a diverse target audience.