Laura Quirin
Founder
The Brazilian Report
Name |
Brazil All Quiet on the Western Front |
Description |
Humour is often a powerful tool to cast light on important social issues. In a country such as Brazil, with its brutal news cycle constantly churning out bad news, comedy can play an even more important role: to elicit emotions from a population that can often be left numbed by data and information. At The Brazilian Report, we have always recognized cartoons as an important tool to communicate with our audience, in line with our goal to give an insider's perspective of goings-on in the country to an international audience. Every week, the newsroom comes up with an idea and presents it to French illustrator Jika — Jessica Rose Rosensveig — who brings it to life using her characteristic style of simple lines and the colors of the Brazilian flag to make it instantly recognizable as a Brazilian Report product. Her perspective as a foreigner also ties in perfectly with the website’s mission to explain Brazil to global audiences. Our cartoon idea was original as it was based on contemporary oscar movies, with a nod to the past. We chose Everything Everywhere All at Once, and All Quiet on the Western Front, as we felt they perfectly translated the spirit of Brazil in January 2023 and two months later in March. Brazil was in the eye of the storm in January as rioters invaded capital city Brasilia, and things became eerily quiet by March. The combination of both revisited posters with the Cine Brazil neon referring to Terry Gilliam’s 1985 movie Brazil, adding an even more subtle reference to Jika's art. Humour is more necessary than ever — both as a tool to denounce problems and as an escape valve for emotions. Indeed, Brazilians are known for their sardonic gallows humor, and our cartoons have been a useful way to seize this unique form of resilience, either by lampooning politicians or getting sincere laughs from even the toughest of circumstances. For us journalists, coming up with ideas allows us to stretch our creative muscles, often taking a lighter approach to the news we must cover with severity throughout the week. In 2021, our team has begun experimenting further with our cartoons. In a world where social media dominates the media market, we started creating GIFs and video versions of our cartoons, further optimizing them for different social media algorithms and making them more appealing to younger audiences. In a world where social media dominates the media market, we started creating GIFs and video versions of our cartoons, further optimizing them for different social media algorithms and making them more appealing to younger audiences. That does not mean cartoons are an easy job. They take a lot of time from the journalism, social media, and art teams, Jika’s drawing talent, and much back-and-forth until we reach the desired product. All of those are valuable resources, especially considering The Brazilian Report is a startup. Unlike many newsrooms across the globe, we still believe cartoons are an important medium to promote free speech and expression. We intend to continue doing our bit to keep journalistic cartoons alive in Brazil and receiving this award would be validation that we are heading in the right direction. |
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The Brazilian Report |
