Porta dos fundos: migration and convergence of humorous fictional language from TV to web

Abstract

This project proposes to study the associations carried by the YouTube channel Porta dos Fundos as it articulates media platforms and promotes the hybridization of fictional series and traditional Brazilian sitcoms narrative formats in order to encourage the development of new consumer practices, experiences and meanings, whilst having the web as it main media platform. The research outline falls initially on the episodes of Porta dos Fundos which had its scripts published in the book Porta dos Fundos (2013), summing up 37 episodes. The research will be developed in three stages. First, in order to investigate the migration process of fictional series and sitcoms formats and languages it will analyze the selected episodes using the aesthetics of repetition as defined by Calabrese (1988) and the media convergence theory as defined by Henry Jenkins (2009) as theoretical supports. In a second moment, it will address issues concerning the media platform in which the content is presented, being guided by the concepts of media proposed by Lisa Gitelman (2006) and the media convergence theory already cited. Finally, it will link the results and speculations obtained in the first two stages of the research in order to examine its three main aspects: i) the formation of hybrid fictional narrative structures, specifically designed to be presented on the internet; ii) how the production of content and the media platforms integrate, from a media convergence theory point of view, taking into account the protocols of use of each media, the migratory flux of consumption, and the convergence of interest towards the main content; iii) how the strategies of media distribution and media convergence in Porta dos Fundos contribute to the development of new practices and meanings of fictional series consumption. (AU)