table

Research Questions

Object’s Country of Origin

My Home Country

Facts: What was its original meaning/interpretation? How did this change over time?

The original goal was to criticize the Brazilian government in terms of street children and deflorestation/hunting. In 2011, when the movie came out there were 24,000 reported street children in Brazil.

Many Brazilians were pleased with the fact that the movie called out the government on an international scale. And brought awareness to a specific target audience that maybe were not aware of what was going on.

Facts: Who, generally, uses/enjoys it?

The movie was targeted at kids (5–12) and their parents. It was a movie made for families to watch together.

The same was true for my home country, as families enjoyed watching it together. However, an older target audience was also able to enjoy it as it discussed many political issues.

Facts: What is the obvious reason for its likability / inability to translate?

Disney has a very strong presence in the entertainment industry, so I believe that almost any of their movies translate well and are successful. Additionally, the movie is very lively and shares a great deal of culture, which is also a factor that would have contributed.

Also the movie tackles core issues that are faced worldwide. Poverty, pickpocketing, street children, unsustainable development, deforestation and illegal trade of exotic animals are all seen worldwide.

I thought that the obvious reason for it to not translate was the way they portrayed poverty and the favelas. Throughout most of the movie they only showed Brazilians living in favelas, instead of giving a good representation of all the different economic backgrounds. Especially since Brazil is already often associated with the favelas, I thought that another movie that only showcased the favelas would not translate well.

Additionally, they focused on a lot of the negative side…

On the other hand, this movie had a great likelihood of translating well because of how it shines light on topics that are often ignored. Raising awareness which a lot of Brazilians support.

Your Interpretation: What cultural values does it represent? Are these different or the same?

My movie is actually an international movie about my home country. I think that the movie shares great cultural values from Brazil such as the music, the monuments, the exotic animals and carnaval. Those are all very interesting and attract viewers. All of my international friends are all fascinated by these cultural factors.

I also think that Disney did a great job with the animation, music and colors which really attracts the viewers.

I thought it wouldn’t translate well. I would think that many Brazilians would watch the movie once, just to see what it is all about and then not as much afterwards.

Your Interpretation: What about the historical moment it came out made it popular/not popular?

The movie was released in 2011, which means that the movie was probably written around 2009 and then produced in 2010. Around this time, the world was just recovering from the 2008 financial crash, and a lot of people and families were still struggling and trying to do better, making the movie more relatable.

It was a moment where there were a lot of changes happening to the government. Lula, who was president from 2002 to 2010, had just left office after 8 very long years. He was always focused on tackling poverty and introducing social welfare programs. So this movie can even potentially be considered a critique towards him as he claimed he was making a true difference when it came to closing inequality gaps. It could have also been a warning to the newly elected president Dilma, who had a lot of pressure to continue the programs and help brazil.

Something that is interesting to think about is how Brazil wasn’t affected like other countries by the 2008 financial crash

Implications: What does its continued popularity/unpopularity say about the globalization of culture?

The fact that a culture produced a movie about another culture (in the production there were both brazilians and americans directors), which highlights how interconnected we all are.

Additionally, the fact that it did so well shows how globalized our world is. Over the past few years I have been noticing how Brazilian culture is becoming more and more westernized. But also how Brazilian culture has translated to other countries.

In Brazil the movie was a huge hit when it first came out, as everyone was so excited to see how disney portrays our culture. Like most disney movies it became super popular among young kids in brazil, because they could relate to little different cultural aspects that its usually hard to in comparison to other movies. However, i think it became popular at first not because it was a great movie but rather because people were interested