Emotions and affections in the anencephaly controversy

Abstract

This paper analyzes the documentaries on anencephaly produced during the period in which the Brazilian Supreme Court was ruling on the anticipation of the birth of anencephalic fetuses, between 2004 and 2012. It observes two questions: the manner with which some figures are constructed as "victims" and how emotions and feelings are triggered. These two issues are deeply intricate in the controversy surrounding anencephaly. Besides the documentaries, we will also use passages from the public hearing convened by the STF for clarification on the subject. Both documentaries and the public hearing are two of the scenes that make up the controversy surrounding anencephaly. From the exposure of these people's actual experiences performed in these two scenes, we will observe how this dispute triggered emotions and how it was intended to produce subjects of rights and figures of victims based on these emotions.