Modern Tales: J. Borges &
Brazilian Folk Art Folhetos
Objective
As a result of this lesson, students will be able to:
- Compare the difference between original folk art folheto booklets and how they evolved into contemporary use
- Develop their own poetic tale inspired by traditional folheto books and based on their contemporary situations and environments
- Create several block-prints based on their poems/tales
- Create a final book complete with poetic tale and block-print images
Material
Activities
- Place the term Folk Art on the chalk board
- Engage students by asking what they know or think Folk Art is; breaking the word down, what does each word mean?
- Explain the history of Folk Art
- Show students images of Brazilian Folheto booklets (cordel) & J. Borges wood-block prints
- Explain that these books derived from a Medieval European tradition and were brought to Brazil during its colonization. Explain how many people were illiterate and men would wander through villages (overall and area larger than modern Alaska) and speak the tales. The communities were isolated and filled with peasants who appreciated the spoken or sung word over the written, which is why it is written in verse form.
- This form of communication was often the only way people in rural areas would receive any information or outside contact
- Many of these stories not only derive from Europe but parts of Asia as well. However, all the stories have been uniquely adapted to NE Brazilian culture
- Cordel: means string or twine in Portuguese for how the books are hung in the marketplace
- Discuss how these single wood-block images represent portions of local culture with a humorous twist. These tales include some type of moral with a hero and villain. (local catastrophes, popular legends, famous crimes, infamous loves, etc)
- These woodblock images and stories were looked down upon by the upper classes because they were considered crude and unsophisticated. However, today these books are cherished as part of NE Brazilian culture and art form
- Ask students if they can think of anything in contemporary America culture that relates to these ideas of Brazilian Folk Art cordels (e.g. American folk music, early hip hop & rap music, graffiti, comic books, etc.) Are these American forms of communication and art considered sophisticated or cultured by society’s standards
- Explain how these traditional books have been reinvented and used in Brazil for contemporary purposes
- Brazilian government uses the books to promote political awareness, health & safety (e.g. AIDS) as well as stories about world events (US 9/
- The Cordel of Sexually Transmitted Diseases
- Discuss examples of Brazilian folheto folk tale titles and brainstorm with students ideas for contemporary stories that relate to their lives and community
- Explain how each story is a humorous version of situations that occur in the community. Examples:
- Lampiao (Brazilian Robin Hood)
- The Girl who Beat her Mother and was Turned into a Dog
- The Woman who put the Devil in a Bottle
- Romance of the Mysterious Peacock
- A girl held captive by her father is rescued by her love by escaping into a giant mechanical peacock. The two eloped and after the father dies the couple become wealthy heirs.
- Write on chalkboard student ideas for their story titles.
- Have students discuss why these ideas for tales relate to their community and how they could elaborate to create an entire tale
- Have students write down some of their ideas to determine their story direction later
- Discuss with students how to create the 6-line verse used in the original Brazilian folheto booklets and have students begin to create their own
- Chose a title from the chalkboard and elaborate on how the story could be made into 6-line versus, have students participate.
- Students will select a title and then begin creating a 5 page story with 6-verse lines/page
