Clube de leitura audiovisual: Paulo Freire e Marshall McLuhan em uma abordagem educomunicativa para a educação midiática em escolas no Brasil

Abstract

This research aims to investigate how the dialogue between Paulo Freire’s and Marshall McLuhan’s theories can enrich the debate on Media Education and, consequently, Educommunication and Media Ecology — fields to which these educators are respectively linked. While Freire is considered one of the most notable thinkers in the history of world pedagogy, McLuhan is widely known for his studies on the impact of new technologies and the media effects on society, including the teaching-learning process. Even though education was one of his main concerns (Kuskis; Logan, 2013), McLuhan wrote only two books on the subject, but expressed his educational considerations in lectures, seminars, letters and interviews. Therefore, from a thorough research of these materials scattered across several libraries in Canada, a set of information about what the author wrote about education was gathered. By carrying out this task, his educommunicative profile was identified. By applying the concepts of these two educators in the Laws of Media (McLuhan, M.; McLuhan, E., 1988), some connections were identified. They were used as a basis for the creation of an audiovisual reading club in a public school in Cataguases (MG/Brazil), considering the Participatory Research precepts (Peruzzo, 2003, 2005). Since Educommunication is a mediation field (Soares, 2000), it aims to provide, in addition to a taste for literary reading, the development of media education, based on the reading of books that dialogue with their contexts, drawing parallels between fiction and the real world, through audiovisual resources related to books or other media products. In addition, audiovisual media is also present in a literary web series, which uses rotoscoping animation technique (Bratt, 2011), based on films/short films derived from the books, as a form of expression and reflection on the topics discussed. At the end of the project, students were invited to participate in a discussion group and in-depth individual interviews. The analysis of the statements present in these materials was conducted based on the concepts of Conscientization (Freire, 1979, 2022)1 , Question Formulation in McLuhan’s view (McLuhan, 1973; Martins; Logan, 2023) and in Freire’s perspective (2000, 2022), in addition to the Figure/Ground relationship (McLuhan, M.; Hutchon; McLuhan, E., 1977). Testimonies from parents/guardians, the school principal, and the teacher responsible for the class in which the club took place were also collected. Based on thematic Content Analysis (Bardin, 2011), it was concluded that the book is the basis for an integrated media education, which instigates problematization and leads to a liberating education. The literary/media reflection movement and audiovisual production favors collaborative protagonism and enriches the students’ critical and cultural repertoire, enabling perceptions of biases in the media discourses that are accessed daily. Therefore, the theoretical-methodological proposal presented, which was adapted into a free booklet format, offers guidelines for the development of public policies aimed at media education in schools in Brazil.