DECEIT AND MANIPULATION

    The majority of the individuals in the process are focused on the ideology that the offshore has an expectation of how a citizen should act which is believed to be honesty and integrity. The three discrete main focuses of the tasks are intellect, manipulation, and deceit. It is apparent that the kind and honest will not survive in the process based on the results of the tasks. Although, there are some characters that frame themselves as honest and caring people. However, behind closed doors, the truth is revealed. For example, the main character, Michele, constantly defends Fernando and appears to be a trusting friend. Although, in the previous episode, she manipulated her childhood best friend, Bruna, into attacking the leader to save herself. This resulted in death for Bruna for something Michele did, and Michele showed little to no emotion. Yet, she is still convincing the others to trust her and framing the ideology that she is an honest, trustworthy, and kind person. This is the type of person that is believed to make it into the offshore but the games required through the process make it apparent that it is not. It is a cultural expectation for these citizens to act within a good measure. However, in order to pass the process and make it into the offshore, they must complete a variety of tasks that require betraying those who they supposedly care for. 

In “Chapter 02: Coins,” there are two tasks that the contestants must participate in, the living room scenario and the coin task. The living room scenario was made to test the contestant's deductive reasoning skills. Fernando particularly came up with the theory of a lady being poisoned which was incorrect. Therefore, Rafael concluded that the lady was, in fact, allergic to silver which resulted in her death. Despite, Fernando coming up with an incorrect theory, he was not eliminated. He was able to continue in the process, and the only contestant who was eliminated was the one who accidentally broke a glass. Therefore, clumsiness must not be an accepted trait on the offshore which falls into the ideology of needing to be a perfect person in this society. The next task that the contestants are required to complete is the coin scenario. Seven contestants are placed in a room together with six coins, in order to pass, each contestant needs a coin. Therefore, one contestant must be eliminated and if they do not pick a contestant within 15 minutes, all of the contestants are eliminated. Rafael's initial reaction was to steal a coin along with Joana even though she is more secretive about it. This is not surprising considering Rafael completed his first task by cheating and Joana was initially compliant with Rafael's fake identity and chip from the first episode. Rafael and Joana are examples of negotiated opposition because they are compliant with the process yet do so by cheating and betraying the others which is believed to be the "wrong" way to pass. After the other contestants forcefully removed Rafael’s stolen coin, they decided that they will randomly draw names to decide who is eliminated. Joana is the unlucky contestant who was selected to be eliminated. Although, Joana had a coin the entire time that the rest of the contestants did not know about. Therefore, once again deceit wins. The process is not about fairness, it is about who can be the most manipulative.

The Coin Task
Charlone Tiago Mello, César. “3%, Chapter 02: Coins.” Season 1, episode 2, 2016.

    Although there is a shared cultural expectation and ideology of how the contestants believe a person should act which consists of honesty and integrity, the ones who succeed the most in the process, are those who lie the most whether that be behind closed doors or right in front of the leaders. Therefore, dominant representation is not the only accepted dominant discourse because the negotiated representation is used by the contestants who succeed the most during these tasks which clarifies the theory that these tasks are not testing the good qualities that the contestants frame their ideology on but rather intellect, manipulation, and deceit.