Gold and tears of Maria Moura: a contemporary heroine in the hinterland of the nineteenth century

Abstract

Which should be the main traces of a heroin that really belongs to the XXIst century? The feuilleton of the XIXth century brings to paper many of the the strategies of theatrical melodrama, which appeared in France after French Revolution. Having been associated with the feuilleton, melodrama will finally be identified with the mass media. The combination of melodrama and feuilleton is the first step for one of most the fundamental bases for the development of cinematographic industry: the value of the product in conformity to its demand by the market. Throughout History, feuilleton and melodrama have combined and shaped themselves into various forms, according to the technological achievements of each time. Nowadays, television appears to be their natural home, but should one think that nothing has changed in their structure? Maria Moura, the heroin of a novel by Rachel de Queiroz and of a television series brings a new archetype to melodrama: the matriarch, and maybe points to new qualities of what should be a contemporary heroin.