THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BODY AND MEDIA ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF SELF IMAGE OF ELEMETARY SCHOOL CHILDREN.

Abstract

This study aims to examine aspects of the construction of self-image in students with an average age of 10 years, seeking to establish the relationship between representations of the body and their respective influences across different commercial media, particularly magazines. The research aims to broaden perspectives and the level of knowledge about this studied phenomena, through qualitative active research: with intervention of the researchers with the community. The comprehension of body used in this research as a synthesis of the subject, produced and meaning from the symbolism present in a society. This way, the body crystallizes and reflects the social imaginary, a position upheld by leading practices and analyses that continue to explain its legitimacy which irrefutably prove its reality (LE BRETON, 2009). Starting from this premise, it is intended to promote a critical understanding on the construction of this corporeity in childhood. The sample was comprised of 27 students, boys and girls, in their fifth year of elementary level at a public school in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The analysis was based on a dynamic in which proposed that the children chose between different styles of magazine from which they should select a picture which they identify with as similar to them or that matches their ideal self image. The choices illustrate their individual projections as being ideal in nature, rather than traces of identification with their body in reality. The projection of the children follows the model of hegemonic beauty and youth in magazines, depicting the boys with athletic profiles and girls as lean women, in both cases with white skin. The silencing of distinctive traits of body appearance characteristic of the group was one of the most important aspects observed that reinforce the hegemonic discourse imagery that circulates in the media and the inculcation of the social imaginary.