Figuration and powers of the domestic worker in recent Brazilian cinema

Abstract

In this article, we propose to analyse the figuration of the domestic worker in three recent films: Trabalhar cansa (2011), directed by the duo Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra, O som ao redor (2012) and Aquarius (2016), both directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho. These films use elements of suspense and/or the supernatural, which has consequences for the portrayal of the domestic worker, which has consequences for the portrayal of the domestic worker. We hypothesise that the modalities used by the films to represent the domestic worker raise the question about dominations and inequalities suffered by them, in a new light. We assume that these films undo the conventional representation of the domestic worker in cinema, who appears as a fundamentally other figure, an absolute otherness that escapes the understanding of both employers and viewers. We believe that the work of historicisation carried out by the films invites us to think about the legacy of Brazil's colonial and slave-owning past, which manifests itself in domestic work that continues to be marked by forms of “coloniality” (Quijano, 2005). Throughout this essay, we will study the subversive and political role of the domestic worker character who disrupts the film’s narrative, destabilises relations with employers, denaturalises domestic work and invites us to face up to some of the unthoughts of domestic work. Through film analyses, we will show that domestic workers use three strategies to appear and remain in the film’s image: staying away, occupying the shot and becoming a ghost.