ABSTRACT
Brazilian cinema is one of the most influential national cinemas in Latin America and this wide-ranging study traces the evolution of Brazilian film from the silent era to the present day, including detailed studies of more recent international box-office hits, such as Central Station (1998) and City of God (2002).
Brazilian National Cinema gives due importance to traditionally overlooked aspects of Brazilian cinema, such as popular genres, ranging from musical comedies (the chanchada) to soft-core porn films (the pornochanchada) and horror films, and also provides a fresh approach to the internationally acclaimed avant-garde Cinema Novo of the 1960s.
Lisa Shaw and Stephanie Dennison apply recent theories on stardom, particularly relating to issues of ethnicity, race and gender, to both well-known Brazilian performers, such as Carmen Miranda and Sonia Braga, and lesser known domestic icons, such as the Afro-Brazilian comic actor, Grande Otelo (Big Othello), and the uberblonde children’s TV and film star, and media mogul, Xuxa.
This timely addition to the National Cinemas series provides a comprehensive overview of the relationship between Brazilian cinema and issues of national and cultural identity.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |14 pages
Introduction
part |26 pages
Cinema and the State
chapter |5 pages
The First Republic (1889–1930)
chapter |7 pages
The Vargas Years (1930–45 and 1951–54)
chapter |7 pages
Filmmaking and the Dictatorship (1964–84)
chapter |5 pages
Cinema and Redemocratisation (1984–2006)
part |37 pages
Defining ‘National' Cinema, 1896 to 1960
chapter |27 pages
The Pioneers
chapter |8 pages
The Chanchada, the Only Brazilian Genre?
part |36 pages
Defining ‘National' Cinema Since 1960
chapter |9 pages
Cinema Novo
chapter |11 pages
The Pornochanchada
chapter |14 pages
The Nation in Contemporary Cinema
part |60 pages
Brazilian Identities on Screen