BETWEEN EMPOWERMENT AND OBJECTIFICATION: VAI MALANDRA IN THE MEANINGS PRODUCED BY YOUNG WOMEN FROM WORKING-CLASS BACKGROUNDS

Abstract

This article investigates the meanings produced by four young women from working-class backgrounds in Porto Alegre regarding gender constructions offered by Anitta’s music video Vai Malandra. The study combines reception research, gender as mediation, and audiovisual analysis inspired by Suzana Kilpp’s methodology of frames. The analysis reveals a music video marked by contradictions: it challenges the image of the demure woman and introduces bodies outside hegemonic standards, while simultaneously sexualizing femininity, concentrating diversity in specific segments, and glamorizing the favela. The young women’s readings do not mechanically reproduce these offers; they are mediated by class, experiences of violence, media repertoires, and audiovisual competencies. The article concludes that the participants recognize power relations and produce negotiated readings, revealing forms of agency that may remain unnoticed when reception is understood solely through media content.