Brazilian Propaganda: Legitimizing an Authoritarian Regime

by Nina Schneider

Overview

In Brazilian Propaganda, Nina Schneider examines the various modes of official, and unofficial, propaganda used by an authoritarian regime. Such propaganda is commonly believed to be political, praising military figures and openly legitimizing state repression. However, Brazil's military dictatorship (1964-1985) launched seemingly apolitical official campaigns that were aesthetically appealing and ostensibly aimed to "enlighten" and "civilize." Some were produced as civilian-military collaborations and others were conducted by privately owned media, but undergirding them all was the theme of a country aspiring to become a developed nation. Focusing primarily on visual media, Schneider demonstrates how many short films of the period portrayed a society free from class and racial conflicts. These films espoused civic-mindedness while attempting to distract from atrocities perpetuated by the regime. Mining a rich trove of materials from the National Archives in Rio and conducting interviews with key propagandists, Schneider demonstrates the ambiguities of twentieth-century Brazilian propaganda. She also challenges the notion of a homogeneous military regime in Brazil, highlighting its fractures and competing forces. By analyzing the strategy, production, mechanisms, and meaning of these films and reconstructing their effects, she provides an alternative interpretation of the propagandists' intentions and a new framework for understanding this era in Brazil's history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813064246
Publisher:	University Press of Florida
Publication date:	05/21/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	234
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Nina Schneider is Senior Research Fellow at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg/Centre for Global Cooperation Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: Legitimizing an Authoritarian Regime-Brazil 1

1 Small and "Democratic"? The Official Propaganda Institution 14

2 Stars Appearing in the Sky: Unconventional Propaganda Films 26

3 Beware! More Propaganda 65

4 Getting Into Their Heads: Propagandists' Intentions 85

5 The End of the Story: Propaganda Reception 104 Conclusion 114

Appendix 1 Sources and Methods 119

Appendix 2 The Men behind Brazil's Propaganda, 1968-1979 126

Notes 129

Glossary 161

Bibliography 185

Index 205

Editorial Reviews

A formidable and genuine contribution to the study of the Brazilian dictatorship of 1964‒1985, a subject that has not yet been thoroughly explored even by Brazilian researchers.”—Brasiliana “Revealing and timely. . . . Brazilian Propaganda asks questions largely overlooked during the nation’s recent truth-seeking process.”—Hispanic American Historical Review “A focused and rigorously analyzed study of . . . two government-run propaganda organs that produced short films, radio programs, and other propaganda material.”—The Americas “Reveals a crisis of legitimacy that entangled public, private and government actors while provoking an aesthetic approach to propaganda that eschewed heavy-handed slogans and violent imagery for the utopian, optimistic and affective representations of the people.”—Journal of Lusophone Studies “Informative, well researched, and thoughtful.”—Bulletin of Latin American Research “Paints a comprehensive picture of how propaganda was produced under the military regime.”— European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies “Schneider . . . consulted a rich number of primary and secondary sources and used multiple data-collection strategies—content analyses of film, of propaganda documents, and of Globo news, as well as interviews.”—Journal of Interdisciplinary History “An excellent synthesis: well-written, originally researched, skillfully drawing on exclusive sources, and addressing a neglected but important realm of study.”—Latin Americanist

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