Comunicação, consumo e cidade : os discursos de um shopping center

Abstract

The shopping mall is a familiar commercial establishment in the urban space and presents itself as a privileged locus for understanding the current patterns of communication and consumption. Inside the shopping mall, such phenomena are manifested in an inseparable way and are directly linked to the production of discourses. Marked by constant transformations, this kind of enterprise becomes complex, too, insofar as it reveals the connection established with the city. Based on it, the object of this study is the first large shopping mall in the capital of state of Espírito Santo, Shopping Vitória, and the main goal is to investigate which and how their discourses are constructed. This study also aims to verify how the city, especially Vitória, is settled under this discursive manifestation. This analysis was based on a theoretical framework that includes the works of thinkers and writers, such as: Sarlo, Pintaudi and Padilha to understand the reality of shopping malls; Baccega, Douglas, Canclini and Bauman to address consumption practices; Covaleski, Casaqui and Trindade to think about advertising; Carlos, Lefebvre and Benjamin to discuss about the city. This work also dialogues with scholars who deals with the concepts of territory and territoriality, such as Saquet, Sack and Haesbaert. Qualitative research uses semiotics, drawing on the contributions of Oliveira, Bertrand, Barros, Fiorin and others. The study has a descriptive and explanatory character and, with regard to its field research, it uses the observation technique in areas of the studied shopping mall, as well as its photographic records. Its corpus consists of the logo and location of Shopping Vitória and parts of the facility, such as the facade, the central square, the Gourmet Place, a café, a tea shop and the parking lot. By analyzing the results, it is concluded that, in its discourses, the shopping mall: presents itself as an oasis for the city; recurrently establishes content such as variety, fun and refinement; figurativizes defining elements of the city; incorporates specific values to contemporary urban spaces; and recovers not only aspects of Vitória, but also the lifestyle of part of its population