Miscegenation in the Images of Leônidas da Silva in the 1938 and 1998 World Cups Dialogues between Brazil and France

Abstract

The World Cup is a moment of activation and circulation of national rep-resentations, with visuality being a fundamental part of this universe. At the 1938 World Cup, Leônidas da Silva was the most outstanding Brazilian player in the tour-nament, both due to his excellent performance and his charisma. His image circu-lated in Brazil and abroad through numerous periodicals, also carrying collective meanings. In fact, the player's images were useful in propagating the idea of Brazil-ian miscegenation, dear to national identity and also to the international imagina-tion in face of the nazi-fascist wave. They were so meaningful that they kepto on being appropriated and updated, even sixty years later, on the occasion of the 1998 World Cup and will be analyzed here from the point of view of a dialogue between Brazil and France.