As representações de Brasil nos quadrinhos de Flavio Colin

Abstract

This dissertation aims to reflect on Flavio Colin’s comic books by investigating how Brazil is represented on his artwork, taking into account the relation between culture and technology. Therefore, three comic books were selected: “A Guerra dos Farrapos”, published by L&PM in 1985; “Estórias Gerais”, published by Conrad in 2011; and “Caraíba” published by Desiderata in 2007. The reason such books were chosen is that each one of them is set in a different region of Brazil: South, Southeast and North. The first one describes the Ragamuffin War, a historical uprising against the Empire of Brazil. The second gives prominence to the backlands and cangaço, and the last one revisits Curupira, a creature of the Brazilian folklore. Flavio Colin addressed topics that are used linked to the history of Brazil, its traditions, myths and folklore, in search of something that would be, for him, genuinely Brazilian. The theoretical framework on the style of Colin’s comic books is based on the work of the following scholars: Gonçalo Júnior (2007), Will Eisner (2010), Thierry Goensteen (2015), Moacy Cirne (1975), Paulo Ramos (2010) and Waldomiro Vergueiro (2017). Boris Fausto (2006), Eric Hobsbawm (1995) and Juremir Machado’s (2018) work is essential to examine the intertwined contexts in Flavio Colin’s work and career. The concept of representation is based on Stuart Hall (2016); the views on material culture are based on Daniel Miller’s (2013) work; the investigations on identity are based on Tomaz Tadeu da Silva (2014), Lília Moritz Schwarcz (2019), Marilena Chauí (2006) and Everly Pegoraro’s (2018) work. Our analyses intend to understand and contextualize the contrasting representations of Brazil in Colin’s comic books. We also take into account how language and techniques are used in his work, the studies on material and visual culture in the settings making, and in the making of the characterization of characters and scenes. Colin’s work represents many of the social practices on social class, gender, race and ethnicity issues. His drawings show multiple forms of masculinities and femininities. They also illustrate types and stereotypes of black people and indigenous people. In “A Guerra dos Farrapos” Colin and Ruas discuss the history of the Ragamuffin War as told by the historians from the time the story was produced. We notice the absence of black people and indigenous people during the battles and political decisions, as well as women, who are either represented as housewives, if they are upper-class, or prostitutes or soldiers’ escorts, if they are lower-class, except Anita Garibaldi, who is seen as a heroine. In “Estórias Gerais” Srbek and Colin highlight the violence of the northeastern cangaço, which is pictured in battles among armed gangs in the backlands of Minas Gerais. In this comic, despite white men being in the spotlight most of time, heroism is often shared with black men and women. But despite women getting the spotlight, the book also shows scenes of violence against them. In “Caraíba”, Colin’s main concern is to denounce the negligence to protect the Amazon rainforest. It discusses the bravery of folkloric creatures, their partnership with human beings to fight deforestation, water and soil pollution and wildlife trafficking.