One of the first stereotypes the mass media has of Brazilians is that they are all native Americans. This meme found on Facebook shows that. The single story this meme is showing is that Brazil has only native Americans who wear almost no clothes and dye their bodies and are not civilized.
This image found in an American newspaper during carnival celebration shows a carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro. This image shows people dancing and having fun. Many people think Brazilians dance all the time because of images like this. Some people think Brazilians only care and think about parties and do not take life seriously.
This picture found in an online newspaper shows Brazilians celebrating a victory in soccer. It shows how Brazilians take soccer seriously and it gives the impression that Brazilians consider soccer one of the most important thing in their lives.
This is another meme found on Facebook. It has a drunk man who is trying to talk with a statue that is located in Rio de Janeiro. It shows an image of Brazilians that is bad. Drunk and poor who have the symbol of "PT" in his shirt (leftist political party).
Sorry, I could not upload the video but that is the link. It shows another stereotype: that Brazilians speak Spanish. People put Brazil in the same group of other Latin American countries assuming that they were all colonized by the same country and all speak the same language. People do now acknowledge the differences between the countries.
All these stereotypes are very limiting in understanding Brazilian culture. Many Brazilians do like carnival and soccer but there are some who do not and of those who do like it, they still have a serious life and career. Brazilians do not only think about parties. Brazil was colonized by Portugal and speak Portuguese and they have a minority that is native Americans, but the great majority of Brazilians is white, black or a mixture of both.
I identify with this post a lot because I lived most of my life there and I was shocked to see how little people knew about my country. The worst was when people asked me if we had milk in Brazil.
ReplyDeleteThis one is very interesting to me, because I've never seen this side of Brazil. My 'single-story' experience with Brazilians would have been an idea of very colorful, urban people where all of the men play soccer and all of the ladies are models. I don't buy into it or anything, but that is the perception I would have accused the media of spreading.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think of those listed stereotypes about Brazilian culture, but I like that you set us straight! I think Brazil is one of the upcoming powers of the world. Especially economically. I picture them booming in business soon and have thought about how important it is to learn Portuguese right now. I really like your analysis.
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