Misrepresentation of Brazilian identity in the construction of Disney’s character Zé Carioca

Abstract

Zé Carioca, or Joe Carioca, starred in 1942 in two feature films and a short cartoon, had his own newspaper strip for two years and had a part in the "Ducks" comics. In Brazil, he was the main character in his own comics, and his fame as a cultural icon is probably equivalent to that of Mickey Mouse in the USA. This article will focus on some problems in the construction of Zé Carioca character and on how he represents (or misrepresents) traits of the “Brazilian identity”, since it was created under strong political motivations. In addition, it will attempt to understand how such a character can be inscribed as one of the forms of self-representation in our cultural tradition and how errors in its conception can have had deleterious effects on the formation of our cultural identity, especially since the 1970s, a decade in which Disney comics have enjoyed high popularity in Brazil.