From the Screen to the Streets The de facto impact of the contemporary favela films

The aim of this article is to describe and explain how a specific form of entertainment, films as products of popular culture in a globalized world order, socially construct Rio de Janeiro’s favelas through specific narratives. Despite the depiction of existing societal issues connected to processes of social exclusion, the films primarily focus on the criminal culture connected to gang-related issues and urban violence, in which crime becomes contextualized, resulting in the dehumanisation of favelas and therefore reinforcing existing stereotypes. The study furthermore investigates what the de facto impact of these social constructions are on the perceptions about favelas on a local and global scale.