Law, Urban Violence and Order: Cop Shows as a Brazilian TV Genre

Luiza Lusvarghi

doi:10.5195/cinej.2013.83

Abstract

A new type of Brazilian drama series has taken place on local TV - the cop shows. Although they are not popular as the telenovela (soap operas), definitively they came to stay. International channels like Fox and HBO are benefited by Tax Benefits Rule which provides financial conditions for the production of those home market, and are now competing with the two greatest media Brazilian groups – Record and Globo. The worldwide success of “Cidade de Deus” (City of God, 2002, Fernando Meirelles), released abroad like a gangster movie, and “Tropa de Elite” (Elite Squad, 2005, Jose Padilha), Berlin Golden Bear Award 2008, which sequel “Elit Squad: The Enemy Within” (2010) became the biggest box office record of Brazilian Cinema, could be partially contributed to motivate that new kind of production, which mix up social exclusion, urban violence with the very known old formulas of American serials, as the franchise “Law and Order” and its various spin-offs.

Highlights

IntroductionNestor Canclini’s definition of hybrid cultures is relevant to this analysis, as he sees the importance of the production of intercultural works in current times, a concept he establishes as being in conflict with the transnational term that would represent the predominance of the monopoly of large international media groups over local and regional production
This journal is published by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press
At the onset of Brazilian cinema, crime films focusing on the felonies that occupied the main headlines were released to compete against foreign productions, which prevailed in the market

Summary

Introduction

Nestor Canclini’s definition of hybrid cultures is relevant to this analysis, as he sees the importance of the production of intercultural works in current times, a concept he establishes as being in conflict with the transnational term that would represent the predominance of the monopoly of large international media groups over local and regional production. He argues that “the question on how to create a cultural cinema and television must be understood as a quest on how to deal with interculturalism” (Garcia Canclini, 2008)

Objectives

Conclusion