The two faces of the otherness in the media: the geographic exotic and the sociocultural exotic in Brazilian soap operas

Abstract

This text proposes a discussion about the processes of contact with the Other which are allowed by the audiovisual products of Brazilian media — taking, as an object of study, Brazilian soap operas. Taking two examples of alterity representation on the soap operas Duas caras, from Aguinaldo Silva, and Caminho das Índias, from Gloria Perez, the text will point distinctions between the geographical exotic, associated to spatial distance, and the sociocultural exotic. Issues such as the demarcation between the distant and the near and the notion of frontiers debated by Iuri Lotman will also be adresssed, in order to analyze the functions of media narratives and the postures adopted when in contact with the Other at the time of mediatized cultural interaction.