Sound, fury, criticism and audience: aspects of the reception of the series Som & Fúria, by Fernando Meirelles

Abstract

This article examines aspects of the reception of the miniseries Som & Fúria, shown by Rede Globo de Televisão in 2009. Produced in conjunction with O2 Filmes, the miniseries tells the story of a theatrical troupe that adapts works by the English playwright William Shakespeare. At the same time that it received extremely positive critics of the journalistic critic, Som & fury reached low numbers of hearing by the standards of the Globe, which led to its cancellation after only one season. We believe that the references to Shakespearean literature and the presence of theatrical language in the miniseries may have provoked a noise of communication with the public, thus minimizing the possibilities for dialogue and building an affective relationship between the program and a wider audience. We use mainly the concepts of dialogism and carnivalization (BAKHTIN, 2010; STAM, 1992) and the cognitive approach applied to audiovisual products (BORDWELL, 2007; PUCCI, 2012) in an attempt to understand this discrepancy between public reception and criticism. We seek to contribute, therefore, to studies of reception of audiovisuals, considering the various actors that compose the public and its receptive locus, its particularities and the influences that determine the way through which they relate to diverse cultural products.