BRAZIL: Fourteen-year-old Joao Montanaro publishes daring political cartoons in the weekend editorial page of Brazil's biggest newspaper

Record ID: 226202

  • Title: BRAZIL: Fourteen-year-old Joao Montanaro publishes daring political cartoons in the weekend editorial page of Brazil's biggest newspaper
  • Date: 15th April 2011
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF FOLHA DE SAO PAULO NEWSPAPER'S ART DIRECTOR, FABIO MARRA, HANDLING CARTOONS BY JOAO MONTANARO
  • Embargoed: 30th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil, Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA3DIWHAKU7H9CKT18TPON3RTHP
  • Story Text: While his friends get together to play video games on Friday nights, 14-year-old Joao Montanaro is locked up in his home studio finishing drafts of the political cartoons he publishes every Saturday in Brazil's biggest newspaper.
    For the past months, the witty eighth grader has shared the editorial page of the influential Folha de Sao Paulo paper with columns by important names of Brazil's journalism scene.
    Known simply as Joao M., Montanaro describes himself as a regular teen who likes video games, action movies and used to dream -- like most Brazilian boys -- of becoming a soccer player.
    But because he had no luck with the ball, he decided to focus on something he did much better: drawing.
    "It (beginning of career) was when I found out I didn't know how to play ball. Here in Brazil every boy dreams of being a soccer player and when they discover they can't do it it's frustrating. I decided to ease my frustrations in drawing and I never stopped," he said, sitting in his home studio.
    He started off copying cartoons like 'Sponge Bob' and 'Calvin and Hobbes' and then evolved to more sophisticated illustrations he took out of a book of political cartoonists that belonged to his father.
    Montanaro said his love for cartoon strips began when he was only seven or eight, although he didn't understand what they meant.
    His first strips were mere copies of renowned Brazilian cartoonists like Laerte Coutinho and Arnaldo Angeli Filho, who rose to fame during the country's military dictatorship.
    Like his idols, Montanaro said he shares a taste for controversy, especially when the subject is politics.
    "I love controversy. When the theme is politics... In reality here in Brazil the politicians give us ready-made jokes, all we need to do is draw. So I love making political cartoons," he said.
    Now the quick-witted teen has his own style and compliments are pouring in from all sides. From appearances in TV shows to magazines, Montanaro has earned more than fifteen minutes of fame.
    Folha de Sao Paulo's art director Fabio Marra said Montanaro is strangely insightful for his age.
    "He is very audacious, all you need to do is look at the school cartoon he published this week and in the first cartoon he published in the paper about Lula and Dilma. He is very strong and incisive and that makes his cartoons very critical and incisive, which is great for a newspaper cartoon," he said, while flicking through a pile of his published cartoons.
    Montanaro's most recent publication was a child-like illustration of two stick figures standing next to a school house covered in blood stains. The illustration was made in the wake of last week's deadly shooting in a Rio de Janeiro school that claimed the lives of 12 children his age.
    Other highlights of his year-long career include a cartoon of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff offering her U.S. counterpart Barack Obama to fill his plane with gas following his recent visit to the South American country.
    Marra said Montanaro is mature enough to publish his opinion in one of the paper's most influential sections.
    "This is a space (page) for opinion, for trends and debates; it is next to page three, the page of the readers. So "Folha" considers this a very important page and it was a great surprise to have Joao Montanaro, a 14-year-old boy illustrating and publishing his political cartoons and his criticisms in a space that is very influential," he said.
    But Montanaro hasn't always succeeded in pleasing the paper's readers. His relatively short career has been tainted by a couple of controversies. The most recent was a Japanese-style illustration of a massive wave the teen published in the wake of Japan's deadly quake and tsunami.
    Montanaro the cartoon was not intended as a joke, but that he liked to get feedback from readers, even when negative.
    "It wasn't a joke. Many people thought it was a joke, they thought I wasn't being sensitive. I can accept criticism. They have the right to say whatever they want to," he said.
    Montanaro prefers to recall the sunnier days of his job, when he received a stream of compliments after he published his first work in the Folha de Sao Paulo - a cartoon of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva looking at multiplying cells of his then-candidate Rousseff under a microscope.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: Video restrictions: parts of this video may require additional clearances. Please see ‘Business Notes’ for more information.
Register