Rating Brazilian characters in foreign media (updated)
Jenny Kord (Blue Beetle)
Where do I start? Bruna Marquezine on her first Hollywood movie, playing a wonderful, brilliant important character in a DC movie. 10/10. I loved every second of Blue Beetle, I don’t care what anyone says, Jenny owns me. She spoke 3 words total in Portuguese and I was ready to give up my firstborn for her.
Iván Carvalho (Elite)
The whole “I’m in love with this guy who’s fucking my dad while I’m fucking his sister” thing? That could be the plot of a Brazilian soap opera any day, so 8/10 just for the pure chaos of that. I know it’s messy af, but it’s refreshing to see Brazilians that are not trafficking drugs or being thugs, so I’ll gladly welcome the chaos.
Also, I love how the show included the conversations in Portuguese between him and his dad. It makes no sense for two characters who are fluent in a language not to speak it with each other when they are alone or emotional, especially if they’re family.
Emilia Alo
I have been obsessed with Gigi for years now and she’s very talented, so I of course love Emilia. It’s great to hear her saying Portuguese words during her dialogues and singing Brazilian songs. I do wish the show gave her more screen time though, so I’m giving this a 8/10
Also, it’s amazing to see a Brazilian character that’s bisexual and an artist in a mainstream Netflix show!
Marlon Sousa (Surviving Summer)
I know nobody watches this show but it was a really good surprise, similar to Ivan’s case, it has dialogues in Portuguese between Marlon and his mom, which is always great to see! It even has a scene where the character briefly talks about how hard it was to adapt to a new country and language and how important surf was to him in that process, overall 8/10
Roberto da Costa/Sunspot (The new mutants)
Burn it. Burn the whole thing down. Shamelessly white washing one of the few Brazilian superheroes (are we even surprised though, coming from Marvel?) was ridiculous. What the hell were they thinking, -100000/10
Vanessa (Taxi)
Look, is this movie good, objectively speaking? No.
Was this character a robber and a criminal - very stereotypically so? Yes.
Was Gisele Bündchen drop dead gorgeous in this and my gay awakening? Also yes.
So I’ll give her 7/10 for this sole reason
Paolo Montes (Trials of Apollo)
Look he is a very minor character with barely any lines and quite stereotypical features. That being said, he’s quite Brazilian in his refusal to say things in English, just speaking Portuguese nonstop and leaving the gringos to figure it out, which I love. Also the Brazilian kid having the worst luck and being Hebe’s son is quite funny. So I’ll give him 7/10
Eduardo Saverin (The social network)
Okay. I get it. Andrew is great, the whole “smacking a keyboard down” scene is amazing. It’s a 2010 movie, made before representation was a hot topic.
All that being said, the character is based in a real person. Kid’s name is Eduardo. He was born in Brazil, even though he was raised in the states.
Rubs me the wrong way he’s not played by a actor with a similar background. However, Eduardo, just like Andrew, is of Jewish descent through his immigrant grandparents, which is very accurate. Win some, lose some, I guess. Give it a 5/10 I suppose?
Honorable mention:
Rio
It’s a movie about blue macaws (Araras azuis in Portuguese), not a character in itself, so no ratings.
Even though it’s an USA-made movie, Rodrigo Santoro (all of our mothers’ crushes and a famous Brazilian actor) plays the main human character and the director is Brazilian. The songs are great, but English simply doesn’t do this movie justice.
This film in Portuguese marked my childhood, which is a testament to how great Brazilian dubbing is. Please listen to Hot Wings (Brazilian version).
Note: I know there were a few Brazilians in Shameless, never watched the shows but know they were drug dealers - which, yeah, not fun. I did see some scenes where Portuguese was being spoken though and it was quite funny.
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