THE DISCOURSE OF MALE VIOLENCE:

silence and polysemy as resistance

Abstract

Considering the theoretical framework from French Discourse Analysis, the studies by Michel Pêcheux (1993, 1995a, 1995b) and the concepts of “effect of meaning”, “implication” and “transverse discourse”, I aim to analyze two discursive excerpts taken from the series “Las Viudas de los Jueves” (“Thursday’s Widows”), from the streaming service platform Netflix. Taken from the episode 5, “The Maldonado Family”, the excerpts focus particularly on Gustavo and Carla Maldonado’s discourse, when he, in an attempt to justify the aggression towards his wife, allows us to access the imaginary that hovers over a certain type of man who uses violence as a way of imposing his will on the woman and making her become the desired mirror. Carla, unable to confront him on the physical plane, uses silence and polysemy to build resistance, separation and the contradiction in the face of sexist and misogynistic ideology. For the analysis, I also use other authors, especially Bourdieu (1999 and 2011).