The Brazil-raised child that resides within me could not let this date pass unnoticed and not lose the opportunity to share with gringos more of Brazilian culture. In 2023, Turma da Mônica completes sixty years. Six decades, around four hundred characters and hundreds of comic books. I remember collecting them with my sister during our childhood in the early 2000s. It helped both of us when we were in alphabetisation.
There were many journeys over these decades with cameos from many icons and characters. Adaptations from famous stories, the traditional fairy tales and literary classics to Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Varied lessons learned from them all, how they are relatable to every child and nostalgic for the older ones. Contemporary audiences demand for diversity is constantly acknowledged through new characters, development of old ones and therefore more storylines. Throughout these years, the soul of the stories was maintained. Their comedic style is characterised by repetition, allusions, appeals to nonsense, puns, sarcasm and meta language. Additionally, the characters passed through many modifications in their drawing style, but their essence was kept.
Cascão does not like to take shower; this is the reason why he is afraid of water. Magali is a glutton. Cebolinha swaps the ‘R’ sound for an ‘L’. Mônica is short, buck-toothed, chubby, and hot-headed. They were created by Mauricio de Sousa. Its beloved characters and simple language captivated generation after generation. It transcended geographical barriers and conquered hearts everywhere Turma da Mônica was published. Specifically in forty countries and fourteen languages since the 1980s.
It started in 1959 in newspaper comic strips from “Folha da Manhã” (current Folha de São Paulo) rather than the famous comic book anthologies with different publishers over the decades. Editora Abril (1970-1986), Editora Globo (1987-2006) and Panini Comics (2007-). The protagonists were not the quartet mentioned above but the dog Bidu and the young scientist Franjinha instead. Both are based on the creator’s childhood, and his cherished furry four-paw best friend. In 1960, the child magazine Zaz Traz adopted the characters. At some point, Cebolinha was the main character.
Throughout these decades many characters were created, which is the reason why there are many social nuclei. Turma da Mônica characters are based on the creator's children. Their fictional neighbourhood Limoeiro is inspired in Cambuí, Campinas. Turma do Chico Bento, which is set in the São Paulo countryside, is based on the cartoonist’s childhood. Turma do Horácio, the main character that gives the name, Mauricio de Sousa, once admitted the dinosaur is the depiction of his alter ego.
Turma da Mônica plays a significant role in the childhood of Brazilian homes. It was always accessible with a cheap price and easy language to the most diverse social groups that are part of Brazil.
Before and during the literacy process of children or even the linguistic development of babies, Mauricio de Sousa helped them with his comic books with their simple and short stories. There were special editions without words, which required children to use and develop their imagination.
After complaints about the lack of female characters, Mônica was created in 1963 and named in honour of the creator's oldest child. In a short period of time, readers were conquered by her personality, therefore she became the protagonist.
Mônica represents the typical Brazilian middle-class white family with their own house and a small car in the garage. It is an outdated depiction as in the present day the country is way more urbanized. She lives in a single-story house with her parents in a privileged neighbourhood. Her mother is a housewife, while her father usually appears leaving to work in an untold role.
Her hot-tempered and enormous force uses her blue stuffed bunny, Sansão, as a weapon to defend herself from bullying and mischief from the boys Cascão and Cebolinha with their 'infallible' plans. Not for nothing, Mônica wears a red dress and is a daydreamer. Although most of her plans involve marriage and children, it is undeniable that she is an oblivious feminist icon. She empowers them. She stands out from many other female comic book characters at the time. Most of them were assistants, objects of desire, victims, or romantic pairs. She is an active character and represents leadership when she owned the street. Moreover, she is a protagonist outside the norm, above average weight. In addition to her, there is her best friend, Magali. She eats how much she wants without guilt and fear of getting fat. Many of Mauricio de Sousa characters encourage the girls to believe in themselves and not feeling limited regards their gender.
On the other hand, Turma da Mônica is not only a bed of roses. Chico Bento perpetuates stereotypes regards the countryside people and reinforces the prejudice against them. Jeremias, the first Black character in the gang, often has a secondary role and lacks development. He is considered a victim of tokenism. Initially, he was a victim of blackface, which involved exaggeration of black features for stereotyping or even covertly ridiculing them. In the 1987 story “O Príncipe que Veio da África”, the character had his first moment of protagonism. The similar portrayal of Asians with the character Massaro Sasaki perpetuates stereotypes with the way they stereotypically speak and again another tokenism case. Turma do Papa-Capim focuses on stories about the Brazilian indigenous but represents them retrogradely as primitive individuals living in the woods and ocas.
Turma da Mônica became a brand with varied products from many sectors. There are CDs, videogames, boardgames, even theme parks and stores. Their stories conquered the screens with feature films, series and television cartoons dubbed in other languages. In 2008, Turma da Mônica Jovem was published for the first time. This is a manga-style comic books of the characters during their adolescence.
Their recently released live actions were not forgot. Turma da Mônica: Laços (Daniel Rezende, 2019) was a box office success in Brazil. It is a special statistic considering national cinema is unvalued sadly. The film is based on the famous comic book anthologies and the homonymous graphic novel published in 2013. It represents the gang united, while in comic book stories, the cliques are divided according to their gender. Each character's skill is appreciated and contributes to the missing Floquinho, Cebolinha’s dog. The message "together we are strong" could easily be aimed at children. However, in the present time, the adults are constantly divided, not only geographically and socially, but also on the internet. It created a sense of false connection with algorithms and forming tribes, following the binary poles and cancellation culture. These tribes are characterised by lack of communication. Besides that, the movie theatres were consumed by the nostalgia feeling of seeing their drawn favourite characters getting a human shape. The film attracted the most varied audience, children, adults, and elders from diverse demographics and backgrounds.
The success of the first film made the director decide to make a sequel to it. Turma da Mônica: Lições (Daniel Rezende, 2021) is the second film. The story is not a continuation of the first one, they are not dependent, and it differs regards their genres. It is a moving coming-of-age story, especially considering the characters are part of many Brazilian homes. It is noteworthy that the most famous version of them is their child selves. The characters are in transition from the sweet childhood to the turbulent teenage years. The accuracy of the school environment with fond playtime activities outside the cyber world and outdoors childhood, the pain of friend's separation and bullying. The film pays homage to famous comic books with exaggerated sound effects, aesthetics, and a cameo from the creative mind behind the Mônica's universe, Mauricio de Sousa. His characters evolved and embrace puberty challenges. Mônica (Giulia Benite) discards her faithful squire, Sansão. Magali (Laura Rauseo) eats her feelings. Cascão (Gabriel Moreira) faces his biggest fear. Cebolinha (Kevin Vechiatto) learns to speak correctly.
There are arguably major problems with the films' representation of diversity through the characters in the films. The limited number of them and how they consolidate multiple social identities and addresses socio-political issues. Last but not least, Cascão changes his hairstyle. In the comic books, he has frizzy hair, while in live-action, he has curly hair. A significant reminder is the character's lack of hygiene. Both hairstyle choices could be controversial. It implies racism and sometimes xenophobia, as these are typical hair types found in people with non-white backgrounds. It depicts them as dirty, suggesting inferiority and low quality.
Not long ago, it was announced science-fiction series that will be released at the end of this year Astronauta: Propulsão and Franjinha e Milena em Busca da Ciência.In addition, there are two movies, Turma da Mônica Jovem: Reflexos do Medo and Chico Bento e a Goiabeira Maraviósa. There are different target audiences aimed at these productions. Perhaps once again, they will cross these boundaries and win more Brazilian hearts.
The second film has a powerful message, which represents the essence of Turma da Mônica as a whole. It transcends generation after generation about friendship and the inner child within us. The characters are forever, their stories keep evolving, getting special places in our affective memories and getting different meanings as we grow old. They keep representing wealth beyond the material of Brazil. It is one of the rare connection points for Brazilians, who are constantly politically, socio-economically and geographically divided.
Comments