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Olá! Tudo bem?! (Hello! What's up?!)
My name's Flávia and I'm Brazilian. I bet lots of weird stuff go on your mind when you think
about Brazil! Are there monkeys everywhere? Do they live in rainforests? Do they speak Spanish?
Oh, it must be wonderful living in a place full of paradisiacal beaches. Well... it's not like that. We
live a pretty normal reality here, and of course, being a South American country, we are influenced
by North American pop culture and way of living.
There are many similarities and differences between American and Brazilian pop culture.
Brazilians really enjoy American music, movies, tv shows... what is considered "cult" in the USA it's
also considered in Brazil. People love Star Trek, Star Wars (there are lots of sci fi fans here),
Tarantino's movies, American horror movies. Our music is a bit different, we have MPB (Brazilian
Pop Music), samba, pagode, many different styles, but Brazilians also created a country music style
inspired in American's. They're different, but you can't deny the origins when you listen to Brazilian
country music. And there's funk. I know you all have already heard funk music in the USA, after all,
African Americans invented it and Brazilians love it. But as we are a very creative people, we created
our own style: funk carioca (you must watch funk carioca videos in Youtube, they're incredible). Its
origins are in Rio de Janeiro... yeah, that place known as Wonderful City, where Carnival takes place,
and it's also in the international news all the time. Where women go out "half naked" (by the way, I
live here and I'm pretty well dressed, thank you and people dance on the streets... you know,
everything that comes up to your mind when you hear the name "Rio de Janeiro", it's myth (except
during the Carnival... LOL).
We also love fast food. Mc Donald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Domino's... they're everywhere.
But they're also more expensive here. Even so, our eating habits are different. There are specific and
typical food, as feijoada or our Brazilian barbecue (there are many Brazilian restaurants in the USA
that work with this kind of barbecue). We don't have the habit of buying frozen food. Lunch is the
most important meal in Brazil.
Our reading habits are similar. There are many national famous comics, like Turma da Monica
(Monica's Gang). But when I was kid, I was used to read Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Pluto
and all the others Disney's characters strips. We also love Marvel and DC Comics heroes. Superman,
X-Men, Batman, Wonder Woman, Fantastic Four, Wolverine, Green Lantern, Thor, Iron Man... well,
all of them! During the year, many events related to comics take place all over the country.
American tv shows... oh, I worship them! I'm a huge The Walking Dead fan! I read everything
about it, comics and novels. And English Literature is my favorite (it includes American and British).
Friends, CSI, Criminal Minds, Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, Game of Thrones,
True Blood, Hannibal, Once Upon a Time, Revenge, The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Man
(when Charlie was still alive, of course)... what else can I say? I'm a fan and lots of Brazilians are too (guess I'm a little
geek... lol).
That's it! I could write lots of pages about our differences and similarities, but I won't. It's good
being different in a time when everyone wants to be equal to any cost. I bet you feel the same! See
ya!
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