By Dêner Ramos, Fernanda Araujo and Thomas Rauber
The diversity of people in the world have created something called Culture. And culture is a synonymous of customs, social behavior and ideas of a group of people. The immersion of stereotypes in different societies turned this subject into a global concern, andBrazil is one of the countries that suffer from images constructed by the others.
The stories told about Brazil in other places seem to be believed by most people who hear it. Most of these stories are created by the media, which shows only one side of the culture in Brazil. In a documentary called Olhar Estrangeiro, the distorted conceptions of Brazil are visible and it is noticed the influence of the entertainment industry. The producer Bo Jonsson, who produced the Swedish movie Sällskaps Resor says that “all these Non-Brazilian films, they have this ready-made picture of Brazil”. The constant search for a superficial analysis of the Brazilian culture is one of the main reasons why the inaccurate images have been spread over.
When it comes to Brazilian stereotypes, it is common for people from different countries to think that women walk topless on beaches, that exotic animals live freely on the streets and that Brazil is a country of sensuality. But, when they come to Brazil, they have a cultural shock, because the reality is completely different from what they thought of before coming here. Chimamanda Adichie, in a video called The Danger of a Single Story, pointed out that “the single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story”. According to her statement, we see the importance of being unbiased, that is, to consider all the variations which exist in a society. It is important to know the real information about the countries, not only what is in the media, once they are all “single stories”.
And that is the reality of Brazil. The single stories are created and spread worldwide because of the media. But what should really be considered is that Brazil is a country with a huge cultural diversity. It is important to know these variations in order to comprehend how significant this country is.
The diversity of people in the world have created something called Culture. And culture is a synonymous of customs, social behavior and ideas of a group of people. The immersion of stereotypes in different societies turned this subject into a global concern, andBrazil is one of the countries that suffer from images constructed by the others.
The stories told about Brazil in other places seem to be believed by most people who hear it. Most of these stories are created by the media, which shows only one side of the culture in Brazil. In a documentary called Olhar Estrangeiro, the distorted conceptions of Brazil are visible and it is noticed the influence of the entertainment industry. The producer Bo Jonsson, who produced the Swedish movie Sällskaps Resor says that “all these Non-Brazilian films, they have this ready-made picture of Brazil”. The constant search for a superficial analysis of the Brazilian culture is one of the main reasons why the inaccurate images have been spread over.
When it comes to Brazilian stereotypes, it is common for people from different countries to think that women walk topless on beaches, that exotic animals live freely on the streets and that Brazil is a country of sensuality. But, when they come to Brazil, they have a cultural shock, because the reality is completely different from what they thought of before coming here. Chimamanda Adichie, in a video called The Danger of a Single Story, pointed out that “the single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story”. According to her statement, we see the importance of being unbiased, that is, to consider all the variations which exist in a society. It is important to know the real information about the countries, not only what is in the media, once they are all “single stories”.
And that is the reality of Brazil. The single stories are created and spread worldwide because of the media. But what should really be considered is that Brazil is a country with a huge cultural diversity. It is important to know these variations in order to comprehend how significant this country is.