The Role of Violence in Third Cinema

Research Questions

How is violence used in Third Cinema? In particular, how do the filmmakers of City of God and Do the Right Thing employ violence and for what end?

Audience

Due to the violent nature of these films, the target audience would be 17 years and older.  This kit can also be of interest to people wanting to learn more about film, outside of an educational institution. 

Overview

This research kit  provides insight into representations of urban life in and beyond the US. In the case of Brazil, it provides insight on how they personally think their country looks and how they want people to perceive realism in order to combat old stereotypes and how they use violence to showcase what they believe is the everyday life for the poor. For the US inner city, the kit provides insight into how violence sheds light on  the status quo. 

Historically the United States used the Good Neighbor Policy to build a better relationship with Latin American countries such as Brazil. This policy was showcased and implemented through the use of films that depicted Latin American countries as exotic, unique, and white, thus creating  a stereotype about Latin America.

Practitioners of third cinema combatted these stereotypes and chose to focus on social issues over ‘fantasy’ stories of Latin America as a tropical paradise.  In terms of Brazil in which the film City of God takes place their third cinema saw a sort of revolution. Films made in Brazil seemed to romanticize the poor class and show them as noble victims of the system, this changed in the 1960’s and saw a trend to a grittier approach. According to the Aesthetic of Hunger films were not meant to showcase hunger and desperation but instead were to become hunger and desperation. Third cinema (A form of cinema that showcases the gritty urban life of the subject country within the film) was created to show these hardships, show that everything was not ok, and show that people are upset with the way things are. This aspect can be seen in Do the Right Thing which while not having the same desperation as City of God does showcase the power struggle black people have to deal with and showcase that power struggle and open it up to the world.

The films “City of God” and “Do the Right Thing” are made in different countries, by different people yet explore similar topics through their use of violence and the struggle that is depicted in each film. In City of God this struggle is represented in the hard life that Rocket, the main character in the film, has to endure in order to survive in the favelas of Brazil. Violence in this film is not used to lash out at those in power but instead helps reveal to those watching and those in the movie who is in power. The racial separations are very different in Brazil than in the U.S and are more fluid in Brazil where class means everything. The film reveals through action of violence such as a scene in which a Rockets older brother robs a motel. These actions of violence and robbery reveal that in the movie Brazil is not as fluid as it seems and shows that the majority of the upper class and wealthy tend to be white. These actions both reveal the true power while also showing the true oppressed. The depiction of these events and action in third cinema can be viewed as what the people of the country need. Barri describes this perfectly in his Manifesto detailing the history associated with said country should be made new and third cinema provides this avenue to do so, to rewrite history, to change culture.  The ironic thing about third cinema involving Latin America but mainly Brazil is that it created a new stereotype of a violent nation where everyone kills and murders thus leaving a negative, although realistic in the case of both upward mobility and how the poor are treated, view of the country.

City of God | 2002 | Motel Scene – YouTube

The film ‘Do the Right Thing” showcases violence not in the traditional sense such as in ‘City of God’ Where murder and killings are rampant but instead showcases this through protest and uses death in one instance in order to cherish and recognize that moment more. When this movie came out the civil rights movement at its height had just ended some twenty years ago. This film showcases how the civil rights movement failed in certain areas and opened the eyes of the middle class to what was happening in the inner city. While this film has a weaker link to violence than “City of God” it does showcase certain areas of tension such as Buggin Out in Sal’s pizza shop complaining that there are no black people on his wall of fame, or when the white guy tries driving his car next to some black people playing in water from a hydrant and then spraying him. The tension is what is key here when it comes to the violence which is showcased as a single act at the end of the movie. I think the difference between these two films and how they showcase violence is excellent to each film. “City of God” Showcases daily and brutal violence in order to shock the view into how people are treated and what they have to do to get by whereas in “Do the Right Thing” there is a single moment of violence at the end that is supposed to have a lasting image and be remembered since it’s the only scene with a death.

Do the Right Thing (3/10) Movie CLIP – Boycott Sal’s! (1989) HD – YouTube

Both of these films help in showing their plights to a wider audience and are great examples of third cinema using violence to get a point across. To answer my question at the start on how third cinema uses violence well it seems third cinema has no now in the use of its violence but entirely depends on the message that’s being made in the film. “City of God” used brutal violence to help reveal power and the struggles of the poor whereas “Do the Right Thing” used minimal violence to help drive home the point and the continued struggles of the black community while also trying to pander to a wider audience by not showcasing brutal violence.

Annotated Bibliography

Getino, Octavio. “A Y Solanas N.14. DE 1969. P.107 132 La … – WordPress.com.” WordPress. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://ufsinfronteradotcom.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/tercer-cine-getino-solonas-19691.pdf. 

This source would be considered a secondary source. This source provides a great amount of information on neo colonialism and anti-colonial matters and sentiments within Latin America and the effects on cinema it had within the time period. This source does not specifically talk about the violence in third cinema but instead talks about third cinema and its counter revolution as a whole. This source provides excellent material and allows people to think on the creation of a third cinema or even what third cinema is in the eyes of someone who grew up in the 60’s during a heightened period of scare and authoritarian sentiments running about.

This source while not specifically mentioning or talking about violence in third cinema does give a broader approach when it comes to this subject and how it ties in together to help make third cinema well third cinema. Getino actually describes violence as a way to appease the bourgeois society and even mentions that they need their daily dose of shock and violence in their cinema thus describing cinema as a platform to appease the upper class and shows a lack of awareness towards the masses (pg 117)

Krstić, Igor. “Favelas on Screen (Chapter 8) – Slums on Screen.” Cambridge Core. Edinburgh University Press, n.d. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/slums-on-screen/favelas-on-screen/711C8E7FFD35C0670323971B7CDFA291. 

This source is a secondary source that discusses the history of the favela, a slum-like area located in Brazil, and how it came to be interpreted on the screens on television and movies. This source gives an excellent background of the favela and how they came to fruition. This source also discusses what you would typically see in a favela on and off screen and provides the reader with statistics and general info on representation in the favela on screen. I think this source is great and is one of the best sources when it comes to answering questions about violence since the favela is portrayed so much in third cinema and violence usually accompanies that portrayal.

This source really helps sum up violence in the most stereotypical depiction of a third cinema violent area which would be the favela. In page 200  the article discusses the Brazilian rejection to make it so their poor look like noble victims and romanticize them in the 1960’s and instead adopted a viewpoint after the publication Aesthetic of Violence which set the tone for the new Brazilian cinema and how people and violence would be portrayed in this new wave of cinema which wanted the films to not depict hunger and violence in order to show the grittiness of the favela and the desperation of the poor but wanted the films to be hungry and violent. This source will definitely answer a couple of my proposed questions and even may put forth more for me to ask.

Rocha, Glauber. “Glauber Rocha: „Aesthetic of Hunger‘.” Accessed April 22, 2022. https://analepsis.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/rocha.pdf. 

This source I would consider a primary source in the fact it describes a new wave in the forefront and provides the reader but mostly the people at the time with a new thought process on how to publish and depict poor people in film and how to make a film around these notions. This source helps depict violence and its usage in a new way and really paved the way for the third cinema we see today and had huge influences especially in Brazil on how the poor are instead shown as victims of society and not romanticized for their struggle to reach the top or survive. This source also discusses the European and their view on Latin America as an uncivilized and primitive world and see the violence that goes on there in that sense and Rocha even claims that Latin America is still a colony in that sense.

This source does an excellent job of describing the pain and suffering that Latin Americans go through and how to show it on film. One page one of the article Rocha describes how he wants violence to be depicted and how it should be depicted. He states that violence from the poor is not something unique to Latin America and should not be seen that way but instead is something that all hungry men do no matter where they are from, and I think this is the core value of violence in third cinema. The ultimate goal of Rocha with depicting violence is to help shed light on why there are problems in Latin America and violence is a huge one but do not look down on us for it since every hungry man gets violent eventually.

MacKenzie, Scott. Film Manifestos and Global Cinema Cultures: A Critical Anthology. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014. 

This source is a nice secondary source in talking about manifestos about film and on film and their impact on new waves of film. The chapter and specifically manifesto that I will be looking at will be chapter title: Cinema and Underdevelopment and pages 211-217. This source and specifically manifest talks about and is written by Fernando Birri who was a film maker who witnessed one of the most violent uprisings in Argentina. The manifesto talks about what the people of Argentina want and how they want to be depicted in film and more specifically what do the people of Argentina need. Birri talks about how third cinema is the idea of creating a new people and a new history by rewriting their old romanticized and bringing in the new dark reality of history. While this source does not specifically help when it comes to interpretations of violence it does help in the sense that violence is a key part when it comes to rewriting history and interpreting the reality of a country in a new way.

This source is great when it comes to giving the broader picture on what people want and how they want to be shown in cinema. How cinema is an art and how it ultimately shows the cultural altercations and even the superstructure of the country it depicts or that it was made in. Barri states the only way to show this superstructure and to pass this false narrative depicted by films about a certain country is to show how reality is and how it is depicted in cinema and implement that into a film ( pg 217). This source will help answer questions such as why violence is depicted and why certain people commit them as it talks about being truly real in a sense. 

MAMBROL , NASRULLAH. “Third (World) Cinema and Film Theory.” Literary Theory and Criticism. Literary Theory and Criticism, July 30, 2017. Last modified July 30, 2017. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://literariness.org/2017/07/30/third-world-cinema-and-film-theory/?msclkid=1712e216c4b511ec99fb1a2aa95fa9d5. 

This source is a secondary source that discusses what third cinema is and how it is applied to films all over the world and what their message is meant to be. The article also discusses the difference between third cinema and other types of cinema describing it as a realistic approach and a dark set of films. The source also give the real history behind the cultural changes and societal changes in these countries to help produce and make the recipe for the creation of third cinema and how they wanted to have the audience be directly engaged in the troubles. While this source is by far my weakest one I definitely think it helps when it comes to giving a nice overview of what third cinema is and why it is so violent and engaging and how it came to be.

This source does a great job at giving a broad overview so that the reader gets a nice sense of what third cinema is and how it came to be. An example of this is the author talking about the history behind the creation of third cinema and how societal changes encouraged this form of cinema. The author states that radical political movements coupled with the cultural and societal changes led to a society of these countries rejecting the romantical and happy narrative plot point and instead adopted a direct and straightforward plot point while rejecting traditional film views and roles in the process. While not having much to do with violence it does indeed help the reader understand the point behind third cinema and its history.

Lee, Spike. “Do The Right Thing”. 1989

Meirelles, Fernando. Lund, Katie. “City of God”. 2002