Culture of Brazil
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Brazil received a significant number of immigrants, primarily of Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, and German origin, which along with smaller numbers of Japanese, Austrians, Dutch, Armenians, Arabs, Jews, Poles, Ukrainians, French, Russians, Swiss, Hungarians, Greeks, Chinese, and Koreans gave a relevant contribution to the formation of regional cultures in Brazil, and thus contributed to its current existence as a plural and racially diverse society.
[2] The numerous Portuguese inheritances include the language, cuisine items such as rice and beans and feijoada, the predominant religion and the colonial architectural styles.
[10] Immigrants from Italy, Germany, Spain, Japan, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Austria-Hungary and the Middle East played an important role in the areas they settled (mostly Southern and Southeastern Brazil).
[13][14] In the 1930s, sociologists such as Gilberto Freyre and Sérgio Buarque de Holanda published ideas about Brazilian culture, society, and identity, presenting concepts such as "racial democracy" and the "cordial man".
[15] During the military dictatorship (1964–1985) and especially following the Institutional Act Number Five in 1968, the government censored material—including art, literature, music, theatre, film, etc.—that it deemed subversive or against "morality and good manners.
The Society of Jesus played a large role in the formation of Brazilian religious identity until their expulsion from the country by the Marquis of Pombal in the 18th century.
Carnival celebrations are believed to have roots in the pagan festival of Saturnalia, which, adapted to Christianity, became a farewell to bad things in a season of religious discipline to practice repentance and prepare for Christ's death and resurrection.
Churrasco is the typical meal of Rio Grande do Sul, and in the South region, it is common to eat polenta, carreteiro rice, chimarrão, cuca, salami, sagu, wine and grape juice.
A few more explicitly literary examples survive from this period: José Basílio da Gama's epic poem celebrating the conquest of the Missions by the Portuguese, and the work of Gregório de Matos Guerra, who produced a sizable amount of satirical, religious, and secular poetry.
[53] The French Mal du siècle was also introduced in Brazil by the likes of Alvares de Azevedo, whose Lira dos Vinte Anos and Noite na Taverna are national symbols of the Ultra-romanticism.
[62] Some authors of this time, like Lima Barreto and Simões Lopes Neto and Olavo Bilac, already show a distinctly modern character; Augusto dos Anjos, whose works combine Symbolistic, Parnasian and even pre-modernist elements has a "paralytic language".
[71] Nowadays, Nelson Rodrigues, Rubem Fonseca and Sérgio Sant'Anna, next to Nélida Piñon and Lygia Fagundes Telles, both members of Academia Brasileira de Letras, are important authors who write about contemporary issues sometimes with erotic or political tones.
The oldest known examples of Brazilian art are cave paintings in Serra da Capivara National Park in the state of Piauí, dating back to c. 13,000 BC.
[77][78] The Baroque in Brazil flourished in Bahia and Pernambuco and Minas Gerais, generating valuable artists like Manuel da Costa Ataíde and especially the sculptor-architect Aleijadinho.
It must be said that in Brazil Romanticism painting took a peculiar shape, not showing the overwhelming dramaticism, fantasy, violence, or interest in death and the bizarre commonly seen in the European version, and because of its academic and palatial nature all excesses were eschewed.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city of Ouro Preto in the state of Minas Gerais contains numerous well-preserved examples of this style by artists such as Aleijadinho.
Cinema has a long tradition in Brazil, reaching back to the birth of the medium in the late 19th century, and gaining a new level of international acclaim in recent years.
The 1956 premier of Orfeu da Conceição by Vinicius de Moraes, with compositions from Antônio Carlos Jobim and a cast drawn from Abdias do Nascimento's Teatro Experimental do Negro, was a landmark event in Brazilian culture.
In the 1960s, many playwrights, such as Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, Augusto Boal, Dias Gomes, Oduvaldo Vianna Filho and Plínio Marcos, used theatre as a means of opposing the military regime.
Many different genres and styles have emerged in Brazil, such as samba, pagode, sertanejo, brega, bossa nova, MPB, frevo, forró, maracatu and axé.
[107] In the early 20th century, modern samba emerged and was popularized in Rio de Janeiro behind composers such as Noel Rosa, Cartola and Nelson Cavaquinho among others.
[109] Choro originated in the 19th century through interpretations of European genres such as polka and schottische by Brazilian artists who had already been influenced by African rhythms such as the batuque.
Among those were Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Jorge Mautner,[115] Tom Zé, Nara Leão, Ney Matogrosso, Rita Lee,[116] and Os Mutantes.
In the 20th century, Brazil had a strong modernist and nationalist movement, with the works of internationally renowned composers like Heitor Villa-Lobos, Camargo Guarnieri, César Guerra-Peixe and Cláudio Santoro, and more recently Marlos Nobre and Osvaldo Lacerda.
Characters include the Boitatá, the Boto Cor-de-Rosa, the Saci and the Bumba Meu Boi, which has spawned the famous June festival in Northern and Northeastern Brazil.
[136] In auto racing, Brazilian drivers have won the Formula One World Championship eight times: Emerson Fittipaldi in 1972 and 1974;[137] Nelson Piquet in 1981, 1983, and 1987;[138] and Ayrton Senna in 1988, 1990, and 1991.
In recent decades, the emergence of a large middle class has contributed to increase social mobility and alleviating income disparity, but the situation remains grave.
"Brazilians organize their lives around and about others, maintain a high level of social involvement, and consider personal relations of primary importance in all human interactions.
Light-skinned women strut São Paulo's upmarket shopping malls in designer clothes; dark-skinned maids in uniform walk behind with their bags and babies.
In contrast, working-class patients describe plastic surgery as a basic necessity that provides the "good appearance" needed in the job market and "repairs" their bodies from the wear of their physical labour as workers and as mothers.
