Brazilian Cinema between Cultural Exception and Free Trade

Abstract

The cultural exception to free trade, whose purpose would be the protection of the national cultural market, may not be invoked as an excuse for setting up non-tariff barriers or equivalent measures. The phenomenon must be studied from different points of view, such as economic integration, cultural diversity and protection of cultural identity. The cultural exception, as a political and legal instrument, clearly embodies protectionism, allowing for a certain level of apprehension, not only because it is a barrier to trade, but also could block the free flow of ideas based in the idea of cultural purity, argument belied by the richness that the cultural contact and circulation, between different civilization, is shown to us by History. Concerning cultural exception, it is prudent to be skeptic about national cultural policies and have in mind that the cultural exception entails a dangerous choice of value.