Economic and Social Impact of the Rio Carnival - Essay Example

A case study on the Economic and Social impact of the Rio Carnival The Rio Carnival is a celebration that is held every year in the Brazilian capital of Rio de Janeiro. This Carnival is part of a larger pattern of similar celebrations that occur throughout the Latin American world as a precursor to the supposed abstaining from bodily pleasure that will occur during Lent. As Riggio (2004) suggests, "carnival, which is celebrated as a profane event, can thus be likened to a farewell to the pleasures of the flesh. The economic and social impact of Carnival should be considered in the light of its Nineteenth Century roots and the religious context that is more or less still present. The social background to the Carnival is that it was once considered to be a riotous, disorganized and essentially anti-authoritarian expression by the people that the government was forced to accept because of its popularity but which it did not positively condone. The Rio Carnival found its roots in the 1830's when the city's rich imported the practice of holding balls and masquerade parties from Paris. Gradually, over the next century, the festival took on the shape that it now holds, acquiring elements derived from African and South American Indian cultures. It is this mixture of cultures into a remarkably diverse and yet recognizably unified "Rio Carnival" that is the prime social characteristic of the celebration. The Carnival is the reason that Rio de Janeiro is famous throughout the world. Indeed, it may be the only thing that most people know about the city. This influences both the social and economic identity of the city, for better or worse. Thus while the original idea came from France, the cordoes were introduced by the Portuguese in the late 1800s. The cordoes were groups of people who danced through the streets playing music and generally celebrating. They are known today as blocos, and consist of people who dress in theme costumes and celebrate Carnival in a specific way. Certain neighborhoods are associated with certain blocos. In a social aspect that stems from a number of different traditions, a "fat man" is elected to act out the role of the Rei Morno, or the "King of Carnival" (Cowley, 2002). In recent years, cultural changes within the world as a whole, and within the developed world in particular, have been reflected within the social makeup of the Rio Carnival. For example, many different travel companies advertise the "Gay Rio Carnival" in which "the beaches are loaded with eye candy as far as the eye can see . . . people joke that everyone seems a little gay during carnival" (zoom, 2007). Small gay festivals have become a part of Carnival, and may be regarded as part of a sub-culture of hedonism in which this city, known for its surprisingly permissive attitudes vis--vis social mores, becomes even more accepting during this celebration of freedom. There is a great mixture of factors going into the social impact of Carnival upon the city in particular, and the country in general. As Teissl puts it: Carnival is all the little festivals and parades in the streets and favelas, Rio de Janeiro's poor quarters. Carnival is also masked balls, elegant and often uninhibited - even debauched, where one sees fewer masks but plenty of skin, And Carnival is a time for competition in which countless participants pay thousands of dollars for luxurious and fantastic costumes. But Carnival is also a time of fraternization, tolerance, and genuine human friendship. (Teissl, 2000) So variety and indeed a degree of contradiction exists within Carnival. Thousands of dollars may be spent on a single costume for a rich masked ball while in some neighborhoods that still attempt to celebrate Carnival the average yearly wage may not reach that amount. This contrast can be seen in two main ways. One, more positive manner is to regard it as showing just how universal the feelings and atmosphere surrounding Carnival is. Thus, within this interpretation, "Carnival" is a transcendent social structure which binds together those who would otherwise have little or nothing in common. However, it also shows that there are social differences within Carnival that, as with much to do with the celebration, are very visible. Thus some people spend large amounts of money just to join the parades, let alone to pay for a memorable costume. Some events, such as the actual samba contests, are beyond the means of the vast majority of people how celebrate Carnival. This was not always the case in years before the massive expansion and, some would suggest, commercialization of the event in the last fifty years. So while one social effect of Carnival is to enable people to embrace the "idea of becoming an other, of entertaining fantasies, of traveling to other worlds, old and new . . . some fantasies are liberating while others can be oppressive" (Goes, 2004). So while the masquerades, the liberated behavior and the general riotous atmosphere of carnival can aim at subverting the established order, some of the traditions in fact reinforce "existing, social and racial inequalities" (Goes, 2004). Thus Kings, Queens and various aristocratic figures constantly appear within the Carnival parades represent a "nostalgia in the dream of nobility that never existed in the New World where the political ideal has always been that of the democratic republic" (Goes, 2004). A strict social hierarchy is thus, according to this interpretation, set in place by Carnival, despite the apparent hedonism. The rich appear to be even richer than they really are, and there is an ostentatious display of wealth within Carnival that is an essential part of the process. The social and the economic mix within the elaborate parades that are staged by the city's major samba schools in the Sambadrone. These samba schools are very large, well-financed and essentially work year round for the four nights of competition. While the samba schools are large scale businesses, they are also linked to the local, neighborhood nature of Carnival. Blocos from the neighborhoods that each samba school is found within put on parades separate from the competition. There are street parties that are largely financed by the samba schools and the dancers then move through the streets along with their followers. In the weeks surrounding the fours main days of Carnival Rio takes in a majority of its money for the year from tourism (McCarthy, 2006). An average of 200,000 people pack the stadium to watch the samba contests, and the number who throng the streets for the other parades is several times larger. Many corporations hold events for valued clients at the Carnival. So a festival that was previously associated with an anarchistic, even vaguely criminal celebration of hedonism has become a far more complex and structured event with various economic levels. So while the rich and the famous from throughout the world come to Carnival and experience a particular level of luxury along with the hedonism/parades, others experience it in a very different way. The middle class experience it from the vantage point of the package tour, and the poor from their own neighborhoods. The exact economic impact of Rio is difficult to quantify, as is often the case for similar mega-events. As Matheson (2004) suggests, the local and state authorities in such situations often have a reason to exaggerate the economic benefits of such events, especially if their own jobs depend on them. How far the immediate economic and financial influx into Rio which occurs with Carnival (which any anecdotal view of the event would suggest) actually trickles down to the main Rio economy is uncertain. Matheson, whose studies of the Olympics could be reasonably correlated to the Carnival, suggests that the indirect benefits of mega-events are often exaggerated and based upon controversial, and often inaccurate estimates of the direct benefits. So the economic benefits of mega-events are over-estimated while the costs to the cities are under-estimated. The question remains whether a concentration on the Carnival economy stops Rio from developing in other ways. The fact that many of the companies involved with the Carnival actually are headquartered outside of the city and indeed the country may in fact mean that much of the money, at least at the corporate level, is passed from one multi-national to another. However, at the level of the samba societies and the massive parades which exist it is clear that a whole segment of the economy :- from clubs to costume makers to parade organizers - depend upon the Carnival for their existence throughout the year. This is a stable part of the economy that is based within and benefits the immediate Rio economy, together with other parts of Brazil. Poorer people from the hills of Rio are also able to gain much needed (and non-taxed) cash through selling trinkets on the streets and through providing various other services to rich Carnival goers who care little whether they are paying a ridiculous premium or not (Cowley, 2002). This is a grey and black market economic impact of Carnival which is, for obvious reasons, virtually impossible to collate and calculate. But an anecdotal view of Carnival shows that thousands of Rio's poor take advantage of the festival to earn money on the streets. The sub-culture of crime, in the form of prostitution and petty larcenies, also increases during the Carnival, and contributes to the city's economy as well. One economic characteristic of Carnival that effects its social component is that the only poor people to experience the event are native to Rio themselves. The middle and upper class who attend the main events tend to be far more cosmopolitan and international in nature (Riggio, 2004). Ironically, the Carnival that exists in the poorer neighborhoods is more "true" to the original form and spirit of it than the glitzy, and some would suggest over-the-top nature of the main festival. In the midst of the all the hedonism and spectacular examples of conspicuous consumption there is a questioning, more ironic tone. Thus most Carnivals have parades with themes such as "Does Money Buy Happiness" (McCarthy, 2006), "Empire of the Divine" and at times descend (or ascend) into the real of the completely inscrutable: "Microcosmos: Out of Sight, but in the Heart". At times other countries seek to make statements to the world, such as when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, sponsored and funded the Vila Isabel samba group that won the first prize at the samba championship. The parade prominently featured the state-owned Venezuelan oil company and apparently preached the joys of socialist ownership over private ownership. Other controversial subjects are also considered, such as when one of the most famous samba clubs, the Manguiera School, "eschewed nudity for resplendent costumes, performing a tribute to the San Francisco River, the subject of an intense irrigation dispute" (McCarthy, 2006). The Carnival acts as a performance space within which bizarre, hedonistic and contemporary issues are displayed for the world. It is somewhat surprising that this confusing mixture of influences and sights somehow succeeds in maintaining a single identity that is known as "Carnival". In recent decades it seems clear that Carnival is in fact a single word that implies numerous different connotations to different groups of people. Thus to the poor people living on the hills of Rio there is one Carnival, to the rich dwellers of Rio who live in the city throughout the year there is another. There is another Carnival for rich tourists and a different one for the poorer tourists. For the state and local government of Rio the Carnival is a logistical nightmare and yet the major economic force of the city. For millions of people around the whole world who have never, and will never, experience the Carnival, it is symbol of a certain way of life which supposedly embodies the "Latin-American" spirit of hedonism and desires fulfilled. Whether this is a genuine embodiment or not, it is this spirit that creates the social and economic image of Carnival. To conclude, the Rio Carnival is one of the great mega-events of the world. While the official carnival only lasts four days, and the celebration surrounding it goes on a few weeks, a large part of the Rio economy and culture revolves around the event. Rio has been made famous in recent decades through the Carnival, as it has become one the most visible annual events in the world. The Carnival acts as a fulcrum around which a number of social and economic forces revolves, while being a catalyst for economic growth through the visibility that it gives to the city and the raw dollars that it brings into the country. An exact analysis of the social and economic effects of Carnival is perhaps as impossible as an adequate description of the multi-faceted nature of the event. _____________________________________ Works Cited Cowley, John. Carnival, Canboulay and Calypso: Traditions in the Making. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 2002. Goes, Fred. "Reinventing Carnival in the Americas". Exhibit, 2004. Matheson, Victor. "Economic Multipliers and Mega-Event Analysis". College of Holy Cross, Faculty Research Series. June, 2004. McCarthy, Julie. "Carnival in Rio: A Party Like No Other". National Public Radio. March 1st, 2006. Riggio, Milla. Carnival (Worlds of Performance). Routledge, New York: 2004. Teissl, Helmut. Carnival in Rio. Abbeville Press, San Francisco: 2000. www.zoomvacations.com/riocarnival.htm Read More