Contato: A mulher cientista no cinema

The image of women within the scientific milieu has been the subject of many investigations, especially those of critical analyzes about films.  We decided to analyze Robert Zemeckis' film, Contact (1997), through documental analysis and previous published articles about the movie, as a subsidy for discussing stereotypes about the female figure historically constructed and persistent at the scientific field.  Despite all the difficulties and struggles faced by the protagonist in the movie, one can notice that the scientist Ellie is intelligent, skillful, dedicated, committed, and tenacious in being successful, even though Ellie had worked with unconventional subjects, being a constant target of criticism.   However, one cannot analyze the protagonist without realizing reductionist stereotypes involved in the plot, typical of the time when the film was produced and still persistent, especially within society as a whole.  The present paper is an invitation to think over the female scientist, and what possible roles the society, the media and, particularly, the film-making industry might attribute to her.