The Seduction of Brazil: The Americanization of Brazil During World War II by Antonio Pedro Tota (review)

Book Reviews THE SEDUCTION OF BRAZIL: THE AMERICANIZATION OF BRAZIL DURING WORLD WAR II. By Antonio Pedro Tota. Trans. Lorena B. Ellis. Austin: U Texas P, 2009, 216 pp., $25.00. The cultural exchange between Brazil and developed nations, and its consequences, has long been a topic of great debate in the country. Are foreign cultural manifestations invasive and a threat to Brazilian culture? Or do they create a cultural dialogue in which new Brazilian genres emerge? While literary critics and students of music have long discussed these exchanges and debated their merits, Antonio Pedro Tota’s monograph The Seduction of Brazil historicizes a crucial period of state-sponsored cultural exchange between the United States of Brazil and the United States of America: the Second World War. Melding diplomatic history with close readings of popular culture, Tota argues that Nelson Rockefeller’s Office of Inter-American Affairs, while simultaneously promoting Brazilian culture in the United States and vice versa, did not create a true exchange of ideas between the two peoples. That exchange, he claims, was unequal and paternalistic, trying to seduce the Brazilian nation into cooperation and alliance. Compared to the plans of military intervention by other high officials in the U.S. government, Rockefeller’s vision of friendship and cooperation was far from despotic, even if an imperialistic seduction. Rockefeller’s suggestion to Franklin Roosevelt that the rapprochement of North and South America was a vital issue both economically and strategically led to the creation of the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (OCIAA), and the appointment of Rockefeller as its coordinator. In competition with the German attempt to add Brazil to the list of Axis allies, Rockefeller quickly went to work. He surrounded himself with powerful friends in the media industry, and soon shortwave radio news services, magazines, and films from the United States flooded into Brazil. Using his powerful contacts, he even went as far as convincing companies like Ford and General Electric to continue advertising in Brazil, even though they had nothing to sell since all production was devoted to the war effort. American networks broadcast into Brazil as part of the war effort, since they had not expanded there due to the low profit margins. The “Factory of Ideologies,” as Tota designates the OCIAA, tried to control American cultural production, suggesting to filmmakers that they should research their Latin American subjects before portraying them, thus avoiding faux pas like Brazilian Tango or Argentine Samba in their films. Rockefeller, however, was not just selling America to Brazil, but doing the opposite as well. Brazil’s participation in the 1939 World’s Fair and representations propagating music and film were meant to showcase the culture of the country and convince Americans of its importance as an ally. There were various venues for this, such as Carmen Miranda’s shows and Walt Disney’s animated films Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros. 113 The Latin Americanist, September 2010 The OCIAA established an exchange system for Brazilian artists and intellectuals , and Hollywood producers were instructed to hire Brazilians. Yet they also presented the strategic importance of Brazil’s war effort in the role of supplier of raw materials, showing to the American public educational films about Brazilian quartz used in the manufacture of radios, and declarations of coffee as an important tool for the American soldier in the front line. Tota sprinkles his analysis with colorful examples from music and film, closely reading them to illuminate the underlying tensions of what he sees as an unequal relationship. In his third and final chapter, he analyzes the reception of American culture through samba songs that critiqued Americanization . Artists often satirically talked about American influence and Brazilian music in the United States. It is because of this critical dialogue that Tota argues that the Americanization of Brazil was not an exercise in imitation. Rather, he argues, the invasion of American culture in Brazil “did not destroy Brazil’s culture, but most certainly it produced new cultural manifestations”(119). While this is similar to the anthropophagical argument put forth by Oswald de Andrade among other Brazilian modernists , Tota argues that there was also a degree of cultural resistance, and...