Análise argumentativa e referencial por meio de estereótipos em esquetes humorísticos: Um olhar pela Porta dos Fundos

Abstract

The research aims to understand how gender stereotypes, reference mechanisms, and humor strategies interact to construct meaning and provoke critical reflection in digital humorous productions. Grounded in Ruth Amossy's (2020) Theory of Argumentation in Discourse (TAD), this study analyzes how these sketches employ humor to destabilize crystallized representations (Amossy & Pierrot, 2022), particularly regarding gender and the social roles of men and women. Throughout the study, the notions of text and context are discussed from the perspective of Brazilian Textual Linguistics, drawing on the contributions of Ingedore Koch (2004) and Luiz Antônio Marcuschi (2012), who emphasize the interactional and sociocognitive nature of texts. The research also addresses the Argumentative Turn, as proposed by Amossy (2020), and the Technodiscursive Turn, by Paveau (2017, 2021), which introduce the notion of digital context and interactions mediated by technology. The concept of technotext (Martins, 2024) – a textual production that depends on the digital environment for its formation – is essential for understanding the characteristics of Porta dos Fundos sketches. This study further explores the role of irony as a discursive strategy, following Brait’s (2008) work, which conceives irony as an intertextual and interdiscursive procedure capable of generating meaning by destabilizing certainties and exposing contradictions. In addition, this research articulates the study of stereotypes with Serge Moscovici’s (2003) Theory of Social Representations, which examines how collective representations influence social perception and shape power relations. As for methodology, content analysis as proposed by Bardin (2010) will be applied, as this technique enables in-depth investigation of texts while considering the contexts in which they are produced. Although still in progress, the research indicates that, through linguistic and textual strategies, digital humor not only entertains but also provokes critical reflection on social norms, broadening the understanding of hegemonic discourses and contributing to the deconstruction of stereotypes. In short, this study reveals how digital humor – especially through Porta dos Fundos sketches – acts as a discursive practice that challenges crystallized gender representations, subverts social norms, and employs irony as a tool for critique and reflection.