Vídeos de família: entre os baús do passado e as telas do presente

Abstract

The analog family videos made in Brazil mainly during the 1980 s and 90 s are the subject of this dissertation. It is a large and varied group of archival material with a relatively recent history that little studied and difficult for researchers to access. This work tries to understand family videos from a genealogical perspective of family archives using two models: an older model, inaugurated by the creation of photography in modern society, which still survives in family drawers, book cases, and chests and the other, rising in popularity today, which is related to digital images and videos available online. There are many similarities between the two formats, but since the disparities are rich and thought provoking, this dissertation highlights these contrasts, as well as the different iterations they propitiate and presuppose in their respective historical contexts. The changes in type of family archives cannot be explained solely by the development of new technology. They also relate to socio-cultural, economic, and political changes. Not long ago, these archives were created fundamentally to preserve family memories, and only those close to the family were made privy to this material. The goal and necessity of preserving intimate archives seems to have been substituted by a need to present this kind of material. By observing and attempting to systematize family videos, a hybrid, specific type of archive, this dissertation opens a rich discussion on how intimacy, family, memory, and the construction of subjectivity are molded historically.