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Re-creating the Favela in O homem que copiava by Jorge Furtado

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Arthur Hughes
Arthur Hughes*
Affiliation:
Ohio University
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Abstract

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The Brazilian film director Jorge Furtado's O homem que copiava centers on two plots, both based on accepted social discourses: how to escape lower-middle-class poverty; and the perennial question of the obstacles to love. These two plots are intertwined when the love quest is made to depend on the former, that is, when success in love is predicated on success in social mobility. However, in making the film's protagonist black, Furtado inserts the question of race into these two discourses and highlights the discursive absence of race in dealing with the problems of poverty and race relations. The film underscores the role of education and the discursive implications of social representation in excluding marginalized groups from social mobility while exploring the underside of the mestiçagem myth, the role of race in the question of national identity.

Resumen

Resumen

Para su película O homem que copiava el director brasileiro Jorge Furtado se centra en dos tramas basadas en tópicos comunes del discurso social: cómo escapar de la pobreza de la clase baja; y la problemática de los obstáculos al amor. Las dos tramas se entrecruzan en esta obra cuando el éxito del segundo se hace dependiente de la habilidad en escalar los peldaños sociales. Sin embargo, la inserción del protagonista negro André insinúa la cuestión racial dentro de estos dos tropos, subrayando su ausencia retórica a la hora de encontrar soluciones a los problemas de la pobreza y las relaciones interraciales. La película hace hincapié en el papel de la escolaridad en la exclusión de grupos marginalizados del acceso al ascenso social, y el resultante efecto en la representación discursiva en diferentes esferas sociales. Al mismo tiempo se pone sobre la mesa el mito brasileño del mestizaje y su papel en la identidad nacional.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , 2012 , pp. 64 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Latin American Studies Association

References

Filmography

Cidade de Deus (2002), Fernando Mireilles.Google Scholar
Cidade dos homens (2007), Paulo Morelli.Google Scholar
O dia em que Dorival encarou a guardia (1986), Jorge Furtado.Google Scholar
Esta não é a sua vida (1991), Jorge Furtado.Google Scholar
Falçao, meninos do tráfico (2006), MV Bill and Celso Athayde.Google Scholar
O homem que copiava (2003), Jorge Furtado.Google Scholar
Houve uma vez dois verões (2002), Jorge Furtado.Google Scholar
Ilha das flores (1989), Jorge Furtado.Google Scholar
O invasor (2001), Beto Brant.Google Scholar
Notícias de uma guerra particular (1999), Kátia Lund and João Moreira Salles.Google Scholar
Palace II (2000), Kátia Lund and Fernando Mireilles.Google Scholar
Rear Window (1954), Alfred Hitchcock.Google Scholar
Redentor (2004), Cláudio Torres.Google Scholar
Rio Zona Norte (1957), Nelson Perreira dos Santos.Google Scholar
A Short Film about Love (1988), Krzysztof Kieślowski.Google Scholar

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