Ronaldo Helal

Futebol, imprensa e memória

O artigo analisa a memoria do futebol brasileiro nas narrativas produzidas pela imprensa esportiva. Os esquecimentos e silencios possuem uma funcionalidade na manutencao e construcao das memorias. Em sociedades letradas, os jornais cumprem um importante papel na construcao da memoria social. A partir desses pressupostos, levantamos como hipotese que os eventos sobre a selecao tricampea de 1970 sao narrados pela imprensa sofrendo um processo de selecao e edicao que se ajustam as demandas de afirmacao da identidade do futebol-arte. A ideia do futebol-arte traz consigo imagens e categorias que se confundem com a identidade do brasileiro. Tomamos como material de analise os jornais editados durante as duas ultimas Copas (1998-2002) e os jornais editados durante a Copa de 1970, a fim de comparar as imagens e as narrativas construidas, em sincronia com os eventos de 1970, com aquelas construidas diacronicamente. Palavras-chave: futebol, identidade, memoria.

The decline of the ‘Soccer-Nation’: journalism, soccer and national identity in the 2002 World Cup

This essay analyses the media narrative in the coverage of the Brazilian team during the 2002 World Cup. The corpus of our work is concentrated on the sports supplements of Jornal do Brasil during the 2002 World Cup from two days before the event until two days after its end, reaching the total of 32 supplements. We focus on the hypothesis that the qualification ‘Brazil: the soccer country’, usually even more intense and singular during this worldwide event, has been decreasing and the journalistic narratives about the Brazilian soccer team do not approach soccer homogeneously as a metonym for the nation. The reflection about the role of the sports press as cultural builder is fundamental to observe how newspapers confirm and construct mythologies and identitary discourses, in spite of the journalistic objectivity, one of the pillars of the profession.

Football, body and advertising: a case study

Firstly, inspired by Le Goff and Truong (Une histoire du corps au Moyen Âge), Richard Sennett (Flesh and Stone) and Michel Maffesoli (Le Rythme de Vie), we have outlined some considerations for the organization of the history of the body in Brazilian football. In the second topic, we review studies that examine the convergence between football and advertising. This theoretical background will link to the subsequent analysis of 11 advertisements of well-known brands in which Brazilian football athlete, Neymar, appears as the poster boy. It is said that in football, especially in the first half of the twentieth century, there was certain prejudice against blacks and biracial players (until today Europe reports cases of racism); in advertising, these groups were kept from certain positions also. In short, Neymar takes part in a scenario of identity crisis as an icon able to instigate criticism as well as praise. His public image is permeated by the youthful desire to see himself represented.

Tango, Samba, and National Identities: Similarities and Differences in the Foundational Myths of “Mi Noche Triste” and “Pelo Telefone”

The goal of this essay is a comparative analysis between the symbolic dimensions of tango and samba as they are used in the construction of identity in Argentina and Brazil. We take as a starting point two so-called fundamental moments in the “official” history of these musical genres: the respective inaugurations of samba and tango styles that were the songs “Pelo Telefone” and “Mi Noche Triste.”2 Tango and samba are two musical genres that constructed, in Argentina and Brazil, a significant dimension of the respective national identities. Both share important characteristics since their birth; both came from the marginal or popular classes of society, emerging from the periphery to rise in status to become part of the so-called refined classes. Both genres emerged at almost the same historical period, and both are associated with former or current capital cities, which, in different ways, struggled at the beginning of the twentieth century with issues of unity and national identity3. In the case of tango, Buenos Aires and Montevideo are national capitals. From these cities tango spread to other places. In the case of samba, Rio de Janeiro is the capital of the Republic, recently established after the extinction of the Empire.

Idolatria nos Jogos Pan- Americanos de 2007: uma análise do jornalismo esportivo

O artigo realiza uma analise do material jornalistico relativo aos Jogos Pan-Americanos de 2007, com o foco voltado para os recursos acionados pela imprensa na “construcao” de nossos herois esportivos. Como parte do cronograma do projeto “Meios de Comunicacao, Idolatria, Identidade e Cultura Popular” apoiado pelo CNPq e coordenado por Helal, foram coletados os Jornais O Globo e Lance! durante o periodo de 16 a 30 de julho de 2007. A cobertura dos Jogos Pan-Americanos nos veiculos da imprensa carioca demonstra que as tentativas de construcao de idolos no campo dos esportes amadores sao muito mais complexas e utilizam-se de uma logica distinta da formacao dos herois futebolisticos. Aqui, valoriza-se o “suor” e a “superacao” e relega-se a um plano secundario elementos como “talento” e “magia”.