Estado e religião: o funcionamento discursivo autoritário no filme O Auto da Compadecida

Abstract

The literary work "Auto da Compadecida" (1955), by Ariano Suassuna, presents the story of two poor northeastern characters, João Grilo and Chicó, who (survive) in the city of Taperoá, in the interior of the state of Paraíba. The film is an adaptation of the work which unfolds in two acts: the events before and during the final trial, before and after the characters' deaths. From this reading, we analyze the film and problematize its social functioning in the relationships established among the characters we consider central. Consequently, we analyze the speeches of João Grilo, the Priest, the Bishop, the Baker, Dora, and Severino. The issues raised are directed towards understanding how the interpersonal relationships among these characters produce meaning effects in the film production, intersected by religious and authoritarian discourses. Our general objective is to understand how the functioning of these discourses is historicized in the adaptation of the work. Therefore, our theoreticalmethodological framework is supported by Materialist Discourse Analysis based on the readings of: Michel Pêcheux (2009 [1969]), regarding how the subject is interpellated by ideology; Orlandi (2015), when dealing with the concepts of production conditions, interdiscourse, discursive memory, and discursive formation in understanding our material; Althusser (1985), in understanding how the ideological state apparatuses function and determine social relations; Jean-Jacques Courtine (2014), concerning the notions of constituting a research corpus; Lagazzi (2009), in the analytical work of film materiality in its verbal and visual aspects and its discursive functioning in society; Bolognini (2007), to understand how to discursively analyze the characters on screen. Additionally, we also present complementary readings, especially regarding the authors necessary to understand the political and social history of the northeastern interior of 1930. The methodology used is configured as qualitative and bibliographical in nature, where the methodological steps consisted of: (i) analyzing how discourses are historicized and produce meanings around the power relations experienced by the characters in the place and time in which the narrative takes place; (ii) a bibliographical review of the political events of 1930; (iii) choosing scenes that explore the themes of poverty and authoritarianism; (iv) description of the social positions of the characters; (v) description and analysis of the excerpts in a dialogue between theory and analysis. With this study, we understand how subject, language, and history are inscribed and signify discursively amidst the dominant institutions in the historical period depicted in the film. We conclude, based on the analyzed excerpts, that the functioning of capitalist discourse is the guiding thread that materializes the conflict between the characters.