Det brasilianska mindervärdeskomplexet
Internationell filmfestival i Amazonas väcker nationalism
I förra månaden bjöd delstaten Amazonas in till den osannolika djungelmetropolen Manaus för en veckolång filmfestival. En av gästerna var den amerikanska filmkritikern Amy Nicholson som gjorde ett inlägg på Movieline som nu fått Brasilien att slå bakut. Landets största dagstidning Folha de São Paulo retar upp sig på att hon skriver att Brasilien inte har några internationella filmstjärnor, utan bara såpaskådisar, och att brasilianare helst ser Hollywoodfilmer eller lättsamma inhemska komedier. Att hon jämför Amazonas med Alaska, och menar att regionerna är lika svåråtkomliga och okända för sina länder, gillas inte heller. När hon kritiserar den paranoida brasilianska patriotismen, som gjort att Amazonas bästa och mest kända film, Werner Herzogs Fitzcarraldo, endast setts av ett fåtal brasilianare, försöker skribenten att göra sig rolig över henne.
Det pinsamma i reaktionen är att Amy Nicholson har rätt på varje punkt. För att vara världens femte största land är det ytterst märkligt att Brasilien endast har en internationellt halvkänd skådespelare, Rodrigo Santoro (Danmark och Sverige har betydligt fler). Att få ser inhemsk kvalitetsfilm är också välkänt och gör att ljuvliga filmer som Elvis & Madonna, som vunnit massvis med priser utomlands, endast gick några veckor på biograferna i Brasilien. När det gäller landets förhållande till Amazonas går det också utmärkt att jämföra med Alaska. Endast fyra procent av den inhemska turismen går till regnskogen. Det mest intressanta med hennes text är dock att om den skrivits av en brasiliansk filmvetare hade ingen kommenterat den. Det brasilianska mindervärdeskomplexet påminner om det danska. Endast landsmän får kritisera.
It’s good to read a point of view of a foreigner living in Brazil about my considerationsa of . It’s embarassing how this article took these proportions! This reminds me of other similar situations:
– when American Journalist Larry Rother published an article titled for The New York Times insinuating Lula had a drinking problem that affected his presidency and was almost expelled from Brazil (as if this were not true!!! everybody knows). He even cited the “complexo de vira-lata” (translated as “the mongrel complex) expression coined by the playwright Nelson Rodrigues in the 1950’s after Brazilian Soccer Team was defeated by Uruguay in Maracana. Poor goalkeeper Barbosa!!!
– when an episode of The Simpsons, in which the Simpson family go to Rio, was released. Ok, this episode is stupid, ridiculous, full of cliches, stereotypes and wrong things but the tourist board of Rio de Janeiro was planning on suing Fox for damaging the international image of the city (???). We could simply laugh at idiots who believe what was shown but no, WE were regarded as fools after these statement from Fox: “We apologize to the lovely city and people of Rio de Janeiro. And if that doesn’t settle the issue, Homer Simpson offers to take on the president of Brazil on Fox’s Celebrity Boxing.”
I don’ t know some people are making a scandal about the comparation between Amazonas and Alaska, brazilian artists themselves who gave these impressions “the TV actors kept insisting to us gringo journalists that Manaus wasn’t even really Brazil, but more like how we think of Alaska” (Amy Nicholson wrote). Without disparaging the state of Amazonas, but according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Tourism, the North Region accounts for less than 4% of the domestic tourism destination, which is a shame, but is explained by the fact that it is a region far from the regions where most tourists come from (Southest and South) and this makes the travel more expensive. There are cases where it is cheaper to travel to Miami than traveling by Brazil. Without disparaging the state of Amazonas again and the North region, for people from southern and southeastern, states of São Paulo and Rio, except for an irrecusable opportunity , what would be the reason to leave these places and move to regions so far away? The best hospitals, schools, universities and other institutions are concentrated in the Southeast and in the South. Any small town in the state of Sao Paulo have better conditions than many state capitals of North and Northeast. According to data released by the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro, considering only the state capitals, Manaus is the last place in the ranking of development!
Backing talking about our “complexo de vira-lata”, our need for self-assertion, this becomes more evident in times of Olympics and World Cups! So if a Brazilian sportsperson stands out globally, he or she is deified and will have results eternally charged, with a mission: to show the world how good we are! This happened to tennis player Gustavo Kuerten in 1998 (a year after winning the title at Roland Garros); to artistic gymnast Daiane dos Santos in the 2004 Olympic Games (a year after the tittle at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships), to artistic gymnast Diego Hyppolito and pole vaulter Fabiana Murrer in 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games, to swimmer Cesar Cielo in 2012 Olympic Games, to show jumping rider Rodrigo Pessoa and his horse Baloubet du Rouet in 2000 Olympic Games (after winning the Wolrd Cup Final three times). All suffered the pressure of an entire country after fail! We idolize figures like Pele and Ayrton Senna (I wonder what will happen in Brazil on the day Pele will die, I was thirteen when Ayrton Senna died and i remember the chaos! We emphasize Brazil is the “country of soccer”, only country to have taken part in all editions of the mens World Cup, only country 5 times World Cup champion. But we close our eyes to all corruption in Brazilian Football Confederation and the lack of support for women’s soccer team.
Same situation everytime a film is chosen to represent Brazil and try one of the nominations for best foreign film at the Oscar Awards! Almost like a World Cup final!
We find cool that crapy music like “Ai se eu te pego” are a global sucess only because it’s brazilian!
We complain about the images that foreigners have of us or even the images that we think they have but sometimes we reinforce these images. About brazilian women, we show samba school dancers almost naked and now also women know as “mulheres-frutas”, will we present these women in 2014 and 2016? we don’t like when foreigners think here it’s allowed to get naked in public places (and the are arrested for indecent exposure) but nudity is allowed in Carnival!!!
* of my Brazilian compatriots
Intressant det här. Men det där med mindervärdeskomplex där bara landsmän får kritisera – gäller inte det på de flesta ställen, inklusive Sverige?
/Hanna
Att man inte får kritisera nationen som utlänning gäller i alla länder.
Thanks for your opinion, Fernanda. I agree. Mulher frutas é demais!
Hanna och Cristian, håller med er också. Nästa alla länders befolkningar har en ryggmärgsreflex som slår till när de blir kritiserade av andra länder. Vad som skiljer Brasilien åt är att det går upp på officiell nivå. Ni känner säkert till avsnittet när Simpsons åkte till Rio, blev rånade och bitna av ormar på gatorna i Copacabana. Klicheér, stereotyper och annat trams. Men i de flesta västländer hade man låtit det vara eftersom det rör sig om en tecknad humorserie. I Brasilien nådde frågan presidentnivå. Även när NYT:s fd korre i Rio anklagade Lula för att dricka för mycket hotade den brasilianska regeringen med rättsliga åtgärder. När nu en amerikansk filmkritiker skriver det som alla vet är sant så slår ryggmärgsreflexen till igen och självaste Folha de São Paulo, Brasiliens största dagstidning, försöker göra ned den amerikanska reportern. Jag har svårt att tänka mig att DN skulle publicera en sådan artikel om någon dansk skrivit att Sverige är tråkigt, politiskt korrekt och kallt. Eller jag kanske har fel. Kanske skulle DN gjort precis så också.
Hvilket dansk mindreværdskompleks?
I thought I’d have to read a book for a discovery like this!
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Queuno, you could be right. But in the break room, a lot of the younger kids (I’m an older kid, 🙂 are telling the same story. You have to admit the Democrats are more liberal that way. Which, to totally contradict myself,I’m kind of down with. Within reason. We need to help each other. I’m being judgemental about this specific family. God will get me for it.
Isn't that post inspired by Dostana?To me I felt she just substituted the punjabi milieu with Tambrams.Vichar Hari probably thought what the heck.Its already stolen I will repeat the same._TVK