THE POWER OF THE BODY

TEXT 1:

Owner of a distinctive, harsh voice (even if considering the conspicuous Armstrong mannerisms), Elza Soares is one of the most swinging samba singers. Having appeared in 1959 with the samba "Se Acaso Você Chegasse," Soares always had her artistic career complicated by her personal life, which certainly impeded her of enjoying a more widespread popularity. Having gotten married at 12 and having lost three children who died of hunger, she later became the wife of Garrincha, one of the most genial soccer players ever, and also a chronic alcoholic. The peak of her career was in the '60s, with albums like O Máximo em Samba (1967). In that decade she had several hits like "Boato," "Edmundo" (a version of "In the Mood"), "Beija-me," "Devagar Com a Louça," "Mulata Assanhada," "O Mundo Encantado de Monteiro Lobato," "Bahia de Todos os Deuses," "Palmas no Portão," and "Palhaçada." In the '70s, she still had success with "Salve a Mocidade" (1974), and "Malandro" (1977, this song launched Jorge Aragão as a composer). But it wasn't enough to prevent her from facing huge economical adversities and, at the same time, she was being systematically turned away by recording companies. Trying unsuccessfully to develop a career abroad, she returned to Brazil in 1994, poor and depressed. Finally, she was rediscovered in the '80s by the younger generations of Brazilian rockers (Os Titãs, Lobão) and MPB artists like Caetano Veloso, having been awarded with a Sharp Prize award as the Best Samba Singer of 1997. Her life was depicted in the musical Crioula, which had several songs written specially for her by Chico Buarque, Chico César, Nei Lopes, and others. In 2000, she was appointed Singer of the Millennium by London's BBC. Despite all the critical events of her life, Soares continues to challenge her destiny, performing shows in every venue available.


TEXT 2:

There was once a day when black slave women that were put up on the auction block would have their blouses ripped open by their owners for prospective buyers to see the suppleness of their breasts. How interesting that now, although the auction block looks a bit different, women are ripping their own blouses open and selling themselves down the river. The raping and using of black women solely for sexual purposes during slavery ultimately led to the sexualization of black women in all forms of media. But as the pattern of history shows us, the representation of black people in media has a direct correlation with how we are viewed by society.


TEXT 3:

A Carne

(Elza Soares)

Composição: Seu Jorge, Marcelo Yuca e Wilson Capellette

A carne mais barata do mercado

é a carne negra (5x)

Que vai de graça pro presídio
E para debaixo de plástico
Que vai de graça pro subemprego
E pros hospitais psiquiátricos

A carne mais barata do mercado

é a carne negra (5x)

Que fez e faz história
Segurando esse país no braço
O cabra aqui não se sente revoltado
Porque o revólver já está engatilhado
E o vingador é lento
Mas muito bem intencionado
E esse país
Vai deixando todo mundo preto
E o cabelo esticado

Mas mesmo assim
Ainda guardo o direito
De algum antepassado da cor
Brigar sutilmente por respeito
Brigar bravamente por respeito
Brigar por justiça e por respeito
De algum antepassado da cor
Brigar, brigar, brigar

A carne mais barata do mercado

é a carne negra (5x)

INSTRUCTIONS:

After reading the three texts and watching the video above, try to relate their content with the purpose of discussing how the body is important to represent us socially, that is, politically.

(Focus on the image of Elza Soares)

Read the following considerations
about Capitalism

1) Capitalism is the destroyer of the self, and thus the destroyer of love; it values men not on their own self worth, but on the bankability of their labor. They have been “transformed into a commodity”, their life is an investment which must bring [back] the maximum profit obtainable under existing market conditions. This leaves the worker pervaded by the deep sense of insecurity, anxiety, and guilt. [Adapted]

2) Capitalism alienates human beings; it corrupts the individuals’ selfhood by allowing it to be governed by others. It injects the self full of desire and hope for a better tomorrow that unfortunately will never come. Love is a means of escape for people to vainly remove themselves from a society that enslaves the spirit. Without the self, without identity, without our own nature, true love is impossible because the relationship is not from, as Fromm puts it, “the center of [ones] existence.” (p. 86) This empty love is a direct result of the harmful effects that capitalism has on western society.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Based on these ideas of "Love in a Capitalist World" and all the discussions we had in class about "Life and Capitalism", including the one regarding the film American Beauty, write down a paragraph or an essay with the purpose of discussing the following question/s:

What/Where are human human values
in our materialistic world?

In our materialistic world, human values are based on money.
Very few people think in terms of humanity. Why does this happen?