Hollywoodian cinema in brazilian schools: reasons for (not) using

Abstract

Aiming to analyze the socioeconomic, political and cultural circumstances in which Hollywood cinema is inserted, this paper presents suggestions for the moderate use of this cinematographic genre in Brazilian school classrooms. Based on studies in economics and sociology, we point out the more or less self-interested way in which Hollywood cinema seduces viewers, both to achieve financial profit and to disseminate ideas that corroborate the (un)criticality and overestimation of elitist cultures. Therefore, within the Brazilian school, Hollywood cinema tends to appear, on the one hand, as a possibility of envisioning and criticizing an artistic context predominantly marked by capitalism and, on the other, as a powerful and risky tool, whose careless use can lead to blind alienation from market ideals, reinforce socioeconomic privileges, increase prejudices (racial, social, cultural, etc.), make economically less favored societies invisible and demean cultures that do not have a robust financial apparatus for their artistic productions.