Brazil, the United States, and the Good Neighbor Policy

The Triumph of Persuasion during World War II

Alexandre Busko Valim

In Brazil, the United States, and the Good Neighbor Policy: The Triumph of Persuasion during World War II, Alexandre Busko Valim studies the use of cinema in Brazil as an instrument of political persuasion by the United States during the period of the so-called Good Neighbor policy during World War II by examining extensive documentation found in the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. In doing so, Valim demonstrates the modus operandi of media imperialism: its mapping strategies and control of the market, its actions, and its objectives of domination. When thinking about the place of images as a means of convincing and imposing an ideological project, the author notes the methods necessary to examine this relationship between art and politics, a problem that is central in the contemporary world. Scholars of Latin American Studies, international relations, history, political science, and media studies will find this book particularly useful.

Lexington Books

Pages: 276 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9

978-1-7936-1328-8 • Hardback • October 2019 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-7936-1329-5 • eBook • October 2019 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

Subjects: History / Latin America / Central America, Social Science / Media Studies

Brazil, the United States, and the Good Neighbor Policy

The Triumph of Persuasion during World War II

Hardback

eBook

Summary

In Brazil, the United States, and the Good Neighbor Policy: The Triumph of Persuasion during World War II, Alexandre Busko Valim studies the use of cinema in Brazil as an instrument of political persuasion by the United States during the period of the so-called Good Neighbor policy during World War II by examining extensive documentation found in the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. In doing so, Valim demonstrates the modus operandi of media imperialism: its mapping strategies and control of the market, its actions, and its objectives of domination. When thinking about the place of images as a means of convincing and imposing an ideological project, the author notes the methods necessary to examine this relationship between art and politics, a problem that is central in the contemporary world. Scholars of Latin American Studies, international relations, history, political science, and media studies will find this book particularly useful.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 276 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9

978-1-7936-1328-8 • Hardback • October 2019 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-7936-1329-5 • eBook • October 2019 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

Subjects: History / Latin America / Central America, Social Science / Media Studies

Author

Alexandre Busko Valim is associate professor of the history department at Federal University of Santa Catarina.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 The Brazilian Division: The Office’s arrival in Brazil

Chapter 2 Allies must have friendly attitudes: propaganda, opportunities, and profit

Chapter 3 The show must go on: the good neighborhood cinema gets to the countryside

Chapter 4 Nodding at extraordinary movies: The good neighborhood cinema greatest hits

Chapter 5 Hunting with the best hounds: the cinema projects of the Office in Brazil

Chapter 6 More dramatic than any fiction: the multiple frontiers explored by the good neighborhood

Reviews

Brazil, the United States, and the Good Neighbor Policy: The Triumph of Persuasion during World War II is a detailed and comprehensive study of how the U.S. government used movies as part of the Good Neighbor Policy in Brazil during World War II to win the hearts and minds of Brazilians to the Allies’ side. From an insightful analysis of the internal operations of Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to a thick description of how audiences reacted to U.S. films, this political and cultural study, based on extensive archives sources, offers a convincing analysis about how U.S. cultural hegemony over Brazil increased as a result of wartime cooperations.
— James N. Green, Brown University