El camino de las heroínas: Hacia un nuevo tejido conceptual en el infinito telar narrativo de la red

Abstract

In times of pandemic and post-pandemic, many concepts, ideas and speculations about the future of audiovisual narrative, have become obsolete. Films, series and comic books have historically been tied to the main ancient cultural structures (novels, literature, theatre etc.) that organically continued their invisible guidelines producing material of all kinds and, –in general– maintaining the conceptual and aesthetic axis inextricably linked to a patriarchal vision based on the management of power of the dominant culture. This has gained great relevance in the design and construction of fictional characters, to meet the new requirements of worldwide audiences. These audiences have already been showing their influence in the social sphere by supporting different social movements in demand of radical changes in the world power structures. Since the advent of the internet and digital culture, (a network that agglomerates and weaves together communication processes, creates new meanings and opens reality to infinite interpretations); the audiences require more and more conceptual nourishment and the development of stories, plots, arguments and characters. The products that the entertainment industry sells to the world, which are mass manufactured, based on a few well-known and already outdated and inadequate archetypes) have been swept away by the great changes of the 21st century. Audiences have become involved, not only in the final result as passive consumers, but from the product genesis; demanding, motivating, questioning and debating with the content. This social influence, forces producers, publishers and streamers to produce content based on those same requirements. It is a fact that during the 2020 quarantine –that is still being dragged unevenly in 2021, more audiovisual products have been consumed (in thousands of hours) than at any previous time in history. The large distribution companies (Netflix, Amazon, Disney, HBO, Hulu, Apple, etc.) have made an immense range of material available to the public in series, documentaries, films, short films and other audiovisual formats. But just as they have been uploaded to the virtual shelves of the digital world, they have in turn been consumed with the same speed. This has produced a notable demand for new content but along with this the public has in turn, in many cases, more time and greater interest in getting involved in its manufacture. The public now waits, mobilizes, inclines and even boycotts different proposals that arise from the entertainment industry. One of the greatest claims to “content-makers” is precisely that the characters should be multiple, varied, diverse and inclusive. The audience demands more heroic female characters; not only in the world of “superheroes” but also in diverse fields such as environmental or ecological issues: researchers, organization leaders or world change managers. The new conceptual webs needed to put female characters into action are still seeking their own identity in a field that has been dominated for centuries by male heroes and their psychological and archetypical constructions. A new construction looms ahead, one that does not seem to be limited to the known conceptual fabrics but instead prefigures a new web, a construction that seeks its own language with a framework more suitable for the times to come.