Final Cultural Blog Post

Who is Brazil?

Brazil is a nation of passionate people. People love to interact, to think, and to feel. Your average Brazilian is a very warm and friendly individual who leisurely enjoys their life. This is a stark contrast compared to the US.  Your average person in the US is just another cold person trapped in one rat race or another, mindlessly pursuing some goal that they think will make them happy or bring them closer to where they want to be. Unlike your average Brazilian who takes their time to take in what’s around them, the average American fails to do so.

São Paulo might a bit of an exception to this generalization, but Brazil as a whole lives a slower paced life compared to the US. They take their time going about their daily lives, and they ask themselves questions like, “Where do I want to go today?”, whereas the average American asks , “okay, if I have this meeting at 1 and then another thing at 3, what can I do to make sure I can get to everything?”.I think this really represents the American mindset. The US wants to try and do everything as fast as possible, and everything is rushed. Enjoying experiences is rather a chore of getting things done, and mentally pre planning future logistics of when and how to get to the next thing. I don’t think it is the best way to go through life because it means that people fail to stop and appreciate what they are doing and what is around them. In my month here in São Paulo, I have come to learn that your average Brazilian is not rushing to the next place as soon as possible, and that they aren’t trying to eat their sit down meal in less than an hour. No, rather these people take their time. The average Brazilian enjoys their meal, goes for a walk, and lives a more content life.

Because your average Brazilian is happier with what they have, there is a different in everyday interaction. When you go to a restaurant and try to order food, you don’t see waiters like in the US where you can tell they are just trying to appease you in order earn the biggest tip possible. If not that then there are waiters that are completely disinterested in what they are doing. In Brazil however, you are greeted by friendly people who love what they do, and they are happy to see you. Maybe these people don’t have all the speed and affluence that comes with a place like the US, but they carry a very paramount quality and disposition to them. These people are people that know how to enjoy life. These people slow down and are able to think about who they really are. While Brazilians enjoy their job for the most part, they work to live, and not live to work.

These people’s passions and emotions is not just demonstrated in their demeanor, but also how they conduct themselves. The Brazilian people make their food with care, with handmade quality, temporarily transporting you to a home cooked meal from a Brazilian cozinha.. Food is appreciated as a cultural enjoyment, and not just sustenance to  get you through the day.

The Brazilian people are also passionate not just in the interactions that I have experienced,but with each other as well. Men and women kiss each other on the cheek. Men aren’t afraid to hug each other. Public displays of affection and touching are ubiquitous in Brazil, and something rather interesting spawns from it;. A society where people are comfortable with each other. The average person on the street likes their neighbor. his passion and  happiness and trust can be extended in a restaurant as well.

In the US, where you have to pay immediately for what you order, for where if you are one cent short the cashier will glare at you, isn’t the case here in Brazil. You can just go to pay for something at a counter, you can tell them what you ordered, and they will trust you. If you are short a bit, it will be okay. This laissez-faire attitude is something that seems to extend to almost all of Brazil. People want to be happy and carefree, and it is very invigorating coming from fast city life in Boston to a more relaxed Brazil.With any place however, things are never as rosy as it seems. While Brazil might seem like a tranquil paradise as I have described it, it is certainly not that.

Relaxation breeds people stepping outside their bounds. It leads to a lot of mistrust on the streets. People are not on their phones while walking down the street, nor can you hand your phone to someone to take a picture for you because it would likely get stolen. At the same time though, it permits people to be in touch with society and with themselves, and not rushing to the next thing as fast as possible. You could say the same thing with cars. Drivers do not respect pedestrians in Brazil. Even though there are signs everywhere that says that pedestrians have the right of way, cars will drive within millimeters of you before stopping. Cars are the exception in the sense that drivers are trying to get to their destination as quickly as possible. However, the hasty drivers leaves Brazilians more aware and in touch with their surroundings.

Brazil is very much in the midst of change. There are older generations who more closely follow the relaxed Brazilian lifestyle, and then there are millennials, who are largely addicted to their phones. However, in the midst of everything you don’t see everyone staring at their phones like you would in the US. Every day however, this number increases as Brazil starts to mobilize, not only in terms of phone usage, but in terms of daily life. People will start to become less aware. People are going to start adapting the US model of life where they are running to the next thing and not appreciating what is happening to them around them right now.

There is one very potent aspect about the new generation in Brazil , and that it is out with the old and in with the new in terms of a change of lifestyle. This is largely a function of age. This can be observed in things like transportation. The old Brazilian mindset is having a car. A car is the ultimate goal. A car gives you freedom. However, the new Brazil recognizes a car as not full beneficence.. They recognize it as a possible burden that must be maintained and cared for, and that owning one can  more trouble than what it is worth. With this you can see an increase in public transportation and other alternative transportation services like UBER. One could argue that this is better because you are no longer trapped by owning a car. You can see the same thing with an uptake in bike lanes as well. However, these new ideas still cling to the fundamental Brazilian relaxed way of life. These things are so that you can be more free to relax.  The fundamental goal to relax as a Brazilian remains consistent across generations.

So let me answer you this. Brazil is a an incongruous country, where for every item that increases busyness and seemingly detracts from relaxation and life appreciation, it in turn represents an alternative pursuit, where this pursuit is congruous with the beliefs and goals of the new generation. Brazil will continue to be a back and forth play between busyness and relaxation, with an ever dynamic shift of modality. The same thing holds true with the passion of the Brazilian people. In a life where people seem less passionate and more with in a cyber world, you can observe the converse where these people are able to plan hanging out and meeting with each other even more effortlessly. Brazilian passion and warmness hasn’t gone away, but it has shifted to a new form of  communication, one  made for  the passion between people easier to conceive.

Cultural Blog Post 4

Regions of São Paulo

Brazil is a divided country. A country where people do not see each other as equals. This is represented in one of the songs that we learned about where it talks about the regions in Brazil. This song is written from the perspective of someone living in the north, which traditionally is a poorer and agriculture based area. When they sing about the regions of Brazil however, they do not sing about the regions in the south. In a way Northern Brazil does not recognize the south as part of Brazil, partially for such a large difference in culture but also for another key belief that the south has about the North.

The south of Brazil does not want anything to do with the rest of Brazil. The south has always been more industrial and as a result, there is a higher GDP and your average Brasileiro from the south is significantly richer than that of the north. The south of Brazil believes that it would be better off without the North, and that the north is holding them back economically.

I think that this belief can be similarly attributed to the film A Que Horas Ela Volta?. The film shows that although the wealthy family living in Morumbi in Sao Paulo is associated with their housemaid and her daughter, they don’t really want anything to do with her. They view her as someone of a poorer background and as someone who is an outsider to them.

A similar divide can be observed racially. We had learned about the ratios of ethnicity in different regions in Brazil. Many of the regions in Northern Brazil have a majority of inhabitants that identify as not white (Brown or Black). In the south however, the majority of people identify as white. I have observed a similar thing as well from class as well as in the films that we have watched. If a family has some sort of housemaid, typically the family will be white, and the housemaid will be of brown or black complexion. I think that the continuous stereotypes further propagate the divide that exists between the north and the south, between the black and the white.

I believe that this divide which is so deeply ingrained in the mind of most Brazilians will start to change however. I think that the construction of a city like Brasilia is an example of the change that is to come. While Brasilia isn’t exactly part of Northern Brazil, its values definitely would lean more towards values from Northern Brazil than a state like Parana would. The interesting thing is however, is that Brasilia is a city that is industrious, while also in the north (relatively) as well. This is an example of a contradiction that has existed between the north and the south of Brazil so long. It shows that Northern Brazil can be industrious as well, and this tenant can be extrapolated to the economic divide in Brazil as well.

Jessica in the film A Que Horas Ela Volta is that Brasilia, that contradiction. She might not have brought up with the most money, but her attitude shows a breaking of the barriers that have existed between the rich and poor for generations. It shows that this divide doesn’t have to exist. It shows that “Mixing makes us whiter”, meaning that the more that the regions of Brazil mix as well as their people, everything will move to one balanced melting pot, with barriers broken down, and further extinguishing the cultural, racial, and economic divide that separates Brazil.