Amazon Town TV: An Audience Ethnography in Gurupá, Brazil

7. Conclusion

CHAPTER 7 Conclusion In the preceding chapters we documented the range of changes associated with the introduction of television to the Amazonian community of Gurup á. Employing an ethnographic approach and three surveys spanning a twenty-seven-year period, we analyzed the arrival and subsequent spread of the medium. Using a middle-ground theoretical approach, we gauged the relative strength of television influence vis-à-vis viewers’ ability to mediate it.We observed and delineated patterns of viewers’ responses in terms of behavior, social identity, and worldview while situating changes—and resistance to changes—in the greater sociocultural context of Gurupá. The results are a comprehensive analysis of televiewing in Amazônia that serves as a unique resource for comparative, cross-cultural media research. Throughout the book we looked for balance between media power and viewer agency as experienced in daily life. An important conclusion from our study is that careful analysis of audience agency does not automatically negate the potential to identify media influence.To the contrary, by developing a framework for viewer response—heeding, missing, ignoring, and resisting—combining it with the concepts of cultural capital and cultural proximity, and observing changes over three decades, we have been able to observe a wide range of positive and negative responses to media messages . Our study has been aided by the ability to isolate television’s impact in Gurupá, given the remoteness of the community, both geographically and culturally, and its technological limitations, which confines television viewing for the majority to one station, Globo. The lack of access to the Internet during most of our study period, the narrow regional focus of available radio stations, and the low literacy rates and low consumption rates of newspapers, magazines, and books also have allowed us to isolate television’s impact from other sources of media. 178 Amazon Town TV Through the work of key Brazilian and Brazilianist media scholars, we identified preferred messages repeatedly transmitted by television programming over several decades. We dealt with the complexities of polysemic readings by relying on scholarly research and, most important, the actual readings of programming by people in Gurupá. What we have found are four general messages engaging viewers.The first is presented in consumerist texts that attempt to structure the nature of consumer desire and offer possibilities to satisfy it. These texts occur in straightforward advertisements or in product placements in programming. The second message comes from national texts designed to construct pan-Brazilian identity. Key to the formation of national identity is the dissemination of idealized representations of race, class, and gender based on cultural patterns of the middle and upper classes in urban southeastern Brazil. The third general message is delivered in development texts that focus on the need for capitalist industrialization and the replacing of traditional and agrarian patterns with progressive urban and modern ones. Development can signify industrialization, improvements in standards of living, and economic growth. Developmentalist texts also warn of ensuing perils, such as crime. Fourth, political texts communicate political messages supportive of those in power, although allegiances shift as political regimes come and go. Given the rich historical and ethnographic material available for Gurup á, we devoted considerable space to the description of the socioeconomic setting and the historical precedents leading to the formation of the current Amazônida culture. We traced the contributions of the indigenous , European, and African populations, ranging widely from environmental adaptation and subsistence food technology to supernatural belief. From this longitudinal base, we were able to situate media impacts in the context of both long-standing and recent forces operating in the community. Our ethnographic work began by describing television’s introduction and spread in Gurupá. We used Kottak’s five-stage model to describe television ’s impact throughout Brazil, focusing on Stages I and II for Gurup á. Using Peterson’s analysis of media engagement, we focused on five dimensions of viewership.The first dimension involves technological constraints to televiewing. In Stage I televiewing is limited by high costs, poor reception, electricity rationing, and the risk of lightning strikes. By Stage II the accessibility of cheaper television sets and the installation of the municipal satellite dish leads to the rapid spread of televiewing. Those who can afford private satellite dishes have access to multiple channels. Conclusion 179 For the vast majority, however, reception was limited to Globo—the only licensed channel for the municipal dish until 2010. The second dimension examines social class standing...