Almost two weeks ago, Netflix gifted us with the second part of season 6 of Cobra Kai (2018–). A particular one-minute sequence of scenes caught my attention: a fight between Miyagi-Do and the Redentores, where it featured capoeira.
One minute, one hundred layers. Does a scene hold more value than a thousand words?
Ralph Macchio and William Zabka expressed to a Brazilian media outlet their appreciation for the support and fanbase in Brazil. In return for this fondness, they included capoeira in the latest season of Cobra Kai. This series is a sequel to the original 1980s Karate Kid films created by Robert Mark Kamen.
The gesture is much appreciated, but the capoeira scene lacks the borogodó. There is a festival of Brazil seen through the lens of outsiders, with references to Rio de Janeiro, mainly to Christ the Redeemer—from the team’s symbol to the nameless character who opens the scene emulating the statue. Even more striking, these characters are nameless. It’s a missed opportunity to capture the plural microcosms that exist within the country. However, as individuals, following the camera and angles, they are portrayed as equals. One small detail that could be seen as problematic is the casting choice of a non-Black actor to represent capoeira.
Capoeira began as an act of resistance by enslaved Africans in the not-so-distant past. Today, it stands as one of the greatest symbols of Afro-Brazilian culture, originating in the senzalas (slave quarters) and quilombos (escaped slave communities). It blends combat with music and dance, preserving African traditions while enhancing physical and spiritual strength. In 2014, it was recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
When black people arrived in Brazil, they were housed in slave quarters on large farms and sugar mills. They were traded and subjected to various forms of violence, in addition to working in inhumane conditions and enduring severe punishments. It is believed that capoeira emerged in this context.
Since they were forbidden from practicing any form of fighting, the enslaved people incorporated music, instruments, and dance to disguise their combat movements, creating a unique style accompanied by ladainhas (sung stories). In addition to helping keep their African roots alive, capoeira offered benefits to mental health, physical fitness, agility, and the senses.
Although the word "capoeira" likely has a Tupi (indigenous) origin—caa-apuam-era (which means "cut forest")—the clearings in the middle of the forest where capoeira was practiced, often by runaway slaves, became spaces of resistance.
However, the quilombo was also a site of internal contradictions. Despite being the ultimate symbol of resistance against slavery, many quilombo leaders owned slaves. This fact reveals a more complex facet of the fight for freedom, where hierarchy and the need for internal organization coexisted with the desire to resist colonial rule. Just like other African leaders who, in territorial disputes, collaborated with the slave trade by capturing members of enemy tribes. This does not diminish the resistance but rather illuminates the tensions and challenges that permeated the structure of the quilombo—a space that, while fighting for freedom, also had to contend with the contradictions of its own organization.
Throughout the 19th century, enslaved individuals fought for their freedom through escapes to quilombos, rebellions, and gradual legal emancipation. Brazil was the last Latin American country to abolish slavery, doing so in 1888. Even after abolition, black people continued to face marginalization due to limited access to education, work, and the absence of reparation policies and social integration. Often labelled as idle or vagrant, they lacked access to land and education, forcing them to accept low wages from large landowners, which trapped them in a cycle of poverty and social exclusion.
The 19th century was also marked by the persecution of Afro-Brazilian cultural expressions, including samba, candomblé, and capoeira, which was associated with crime and, for a time, considered illegal.
It was only in the 1930s that capoeira began to be practiced in gyms. Mestre Bimba, a pioneer of the movement, founded the first gym in 1932 and obtained the operating license in 1937. In the same year, capoeira was no longer considered a crime and gained the status of a national sport, even with its unofficial day, August 3rd.
Today, capoeira is practiced in several countries worldwide. There are different styles and groups, each with its own specific characteristics, showing that capoeira is not homogeneous. The Redentores are always open-armed to everyone. After all, this diversity is in the very nature of the word— the melting pot of Tupi indigenous peoples and former African slaves.
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