Wasteland Discussion Questions

Does Muniz’s work exploit the pickers and if so, can it still have an overall positive impact?

Preliminary answer: I think that Muniz’s work is exploitative to some extent because his interaction with them gives him fame and attention while leaving the pickers themselves to continue living in difficult situations. However, Muniz also legitimately improved the lives of the people he worked with by providing them with the proceeds of his work and by bringing attention to their struggles. The pickers who worked with him also seemed to enjoy the experience, although we should bear in mind that the documentary probably tries to promote this idea. Therefore, I would argue that his work had an overall positive impact even if its primary objective was to promote Muniz’s career and reputation.

How was the portrayal of the pickers significant and what ideas about them did it convey?

Preliminary answer: The pickers are portrayed as having a certain amount of pride in their work in many instances, and a lot of attention was devoted to the attempts of the pickers to organize and improve their situation. Their attempts to educate themselves by reading books that they find and starting a library are also emphasized. In addition to these themes, the documentary focused on the difficult conditions in which the pickers live and their attempts to overcome the challenges that they face. Overall, I think the coverage of the pickers was largely positive and designed to help people sympathize with them as well as to bring attention to their needs.

 

Wasteland/Lixo Extraordinário – Discussion Questions

  • In Portuguese, the film is known as Lixo Extraordinário, or Extraordinary Garbage. By creating an entirely different name for an English speaking audience, how is the film altering its portrayal of Brazilians for a global audience?

Referring to the film as Extraordinary Garbage creates a very different mindset for how the film is portraying the workers. The oxymoron used implies that though garbage is perceived as filthy and useless, there are wonderful and extraordinary people working in the landfill. It paints the workers in a much more positive tone. Wasteland immediately triggers a response of a weakened landscape, filled with useless material. It paints a much more hopeless and bleak situation for the workers, which may work to exploit their situation and cause the final portion of the film to be much more dramatic and unexpected.

  • Why does the film lack opinions and interviews from middle class Brazilians directly?

Though negative reactions from others are occasionally mentioned by individuals  from the Wasteland, no direct communication is documented between Vik Muniz and upper-class Brazilians. This may be an assumption that all viewers of the film enter with preconceived stereotypes that working with trash is carries negative connotations. It speaks to who this film was truly made for. Though it benefits and improves the lives of those working in Jardim Gramacho, not directly speaking to other Brazilians implies that this film was created to show upper-class individuals the lives of those below them.

Wasteland Questions

Q1: Is what Vik doing exploitive/borderline cultural appropriation of Brazilian art?

Prelim answer: I think there is an argument both in favor of him being exploitive and culturally appropriating the art created by the catadores/ACAMJD. In ways Vik is westernizing their art by auctioning it off as something that is not representative of Brazil and not fully acknowledging the real artists. This parallels a conversation about African Art in the western world and how it is presented in the art community. On the other hand, we know that Vik comes from a poor socio-economic background and thus would draw the conclusion that he is not exploiting the pickers, rather trying to relate and remind himself about where he comes from (in relation to the pickers low socio-economic status).

Q2: The Portuguese title of Wasteland translates to Lixo Extraordináro. Is there a significance or meaning in this translation to Brazilians?

Prelim answer: while this may not be directly answered in the film, I am still interested to know if there is meaning for the people of Brazil in the title. Given that certain countries movie distributors can dictate the title used or changed, I am interested to see if there was a reason for using this title for Portuguese speaking countries.

Muniz Documentary Discussion Questions

  • Does having prejudiced views take away from the small good that Muniz’s project did?

This is a difficult question to answer because depends, I think on whether Muniz’s goals were met. I think that his project did good in the fact that his portrait of Tião raised $50,000 for the pickers’ union which allowed them to, after the closing of the landfill, open a library and help people transition. However, he also treated them very condescendingly almost the entire time which can skew the message that he was trying to convey (which seemed to be that they are all unwanted, so it may have helped his message).

  • How do personal relationships affect views overall?

In the film, we see that Muniz does not seem to have a very good relationship with his wife—he talks over her and it is stated that he is going to be in Brazil for three years, yet we only see her once—and his relationship with Fabio seemed strained as well, as though they barely know each other. This inability to be close to the people around him reflect his questionable treatment of the pickers.

Questioning The Wasteland

Q1: Is there an allegory or double entendre in the Wasteland?

It is literally a wasteland because of the garbage. However, there seems to be an underlying metaphor that applies to the people living there, how society perceives them and how they perceive themselves. Many of the pickers are people who have had unfortunate circumstances that led to them moving to the landfill. While many of the pickers take pride in their work, some of them, as well as society, perceive them as garbage.

Q2: Is there an underlying message in the film, revolving around the celebration of things and people who have been deemed useless?

The artist’s work takes the concept of making garbage into art, both actual garbage and people perceived to be garbage. The art says that these people are worth something and that they are praise worth contributors to society.

I think it should also be noted that most, if not all, of the pickers are people of color. While racism is not directly addressed in the film, there is something to be said about the way people of color are celebrated in this film, and how their beauty is brought out.

Waste Land

How is Muniz giving back more than money?

Even though Muniz is giving the profits to the pickers, which is greatly needed, he is also giving them a voice. By giving the pickers this voice, they are able to allow the audience know of the harsh conditions of people that live in the favelas and work as pickers.

Is his work on some level exploitative?

It does not seem as his work is exploiting the pickers, even though it could have easily gone in that direction. He actually did lots of good for the people and bringing international attention to a  humane and environmental crisis.

Wasteland

How does Vik Muniz’s personal gains off of his work affect the aid he gave to the pickers?

By benefiting from the artwork not through money but through publicity, Muniz is not completing “charity” work. This questions the motivations of Muniz when deciding to start this project.

How did the release of this documentary effect environmental movements in Brazil?

By making the of the size of Jardim Gramacho landfill of more common knowledge. This documentary could have caused reilizations of how much waste is being produced, leading to decisions to limit an individual’s impact on the environment.

Joaquim Barbosa History and Culture Post

Joaquim Barbosa was a supreme justice of the Brazilian supreme court, he was the first Afro-Brazilian justice who is 73. Barbosa has not yet announced that he is running for president but it is known that he is going to run.  This article goes in depth describing him as a person and him as a justice. He is described as being a harsh person with not great personal skills, the article sites all of the arguments he got into during his term as justice. He is also seen as being anti cuption after the work he did while in the supreme court. Barbosa has done work on efforts similar to to the Brazilian version of affirmative action. Even though Barbosa is running for president he has pending corruption charges, with no trial date yet this could lead to a short political career.

New York Times

The polls have Barbosa in third which is impressive since he hasn’t even announced his candidacy yet.  Barbosa was born into poverty and started as a janitor in the courtroom then was able to go to law school and eventually became a justice.He is quite popular due to his “rags to riches” story, because of this the article says that the lower classes trust that he will seek out their interests as president. Barbosa also is seen as an outsider to politics and that he will “be a fresh new face to politics”(Darlington) There are speculations that Barbosa may be able to attract the former Lula voters, it all depends on who Lula indorces in the race.

The style of the article was reflective of horse race reporting, it was worded in a way to focus on the competition occurring between the candidates. The article describes Barbosa somewhat like a hot head which is reflected on America’s perception of Brazil. The article also discusses all of the corruption charges going around which makes Brazil seem like it’s falling apart at the seems.

Barbosa masks at Carnival. Felipe Dana/Associated Press

This article relates to class because of our following of the presidential election. We have also spent a significant amount of time dissecting the idea of race in Brazil and Barbosa is a way to add to that image of race. Since he is the first Afro-brazilian in the supreme court he is a prominent figure and his possible run for presidency would make him even more impactful.

Main article: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/world/americas/joaquim-barbosa-brazil.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FBrazil&action=click&contentCollection=world&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=collection

NYT Barbosa Profile: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/world/americas/a-blunt-chief-justice-unafraid-to-upset-brazils-status-quo.html?action=click&contentCollection=Americas&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

Wasteland Discussion Questions

Why is the Association of Pickers of Jardim Gramacho so largely unknown in Brazil?

– At the beginning of the documentary, it explains why the pickers and the work they do are so unknown by the rest of Brazil through the words of the pickers themselves.  They explain how the people of Brazil don’t understand the importance of recycling, and how they believe it isn’t worth their time.  Additionally, the people of the association tend to be outcasts of society, to the rest of Brazil places the Pickers below them.  It is rather interesting that by being outcasts and working with the trash of Brazilians in nearby cities, no matter their social class, they have almost created their own social class below all others.  For this reason, the people of Brazil are unaware of the Pickers or don’t want to be.

Did the production of the Wasteland documentary positively affect the lives of the Pickers?

– It is hard to tell from an American perspective if the documentary actually changed the lives of the pickers like Muniz intended to do.  Personally, I had never heard of the Association of Pickers of Jardim Gramacho, and that is rather significant with all the environmental classes I have taken.  I would think such a great effort to recycle by hand instead of by a factory would be talked about.  Though the association’s presence doesn’t seem to have been increased here in America, it is very possible that it did to the people of Brazil.  If this were the case, I think it would at least benefit the lives of the pickers by a small margin.

Wasteland Discussion Questions

(1) How do class distinctions between Vik Muniz and the pickers manifest in the film? To what extent does Vik attempt to relate to the pickers and/or create divisions between them?
Preliminary Response: While Muniz comes from a background of poverty, he had opportunities that many of the people in this film never did. The film tries to connect Muniz to the pickers through shared backgrounds and his desire to ‘give back.’ However Muniz distances himself from the pickers spatially, by standing and directing their labor from a platform, and through a rather condescending manner of speaking both about and to them.

(2) Is art an activist medium? That is, is art a useful tool to bring about social or political change? If so, to what degree and if not, why?
Preliminary Response: Art can assist in activism and awareness building, but does not function by itself. That is, art itself does not bring about social change, but it can contribute to an activist cause. The product’s suitability for use in activist pursuits depend on factors such as funding, sales, who gets credit for the art, labor, and power dynamics within the creative process, as they all influence the art’s social, political, and economic implications. Due to the power dynamics related to class and labor in the art this film highlights, I am hesitant to include Muniz’s work in any category more engaged than awareness building.