Police Legitimacy in Favelas and "City of God"

Erika Robb Larkins describes her experience with the relationship between the police and the people of the El Dorado favela in Rio de Janiero in "Performances of Polic Legitimacy in Rio's Hyper Favela". The police that Larkins describes are very similar to the police in the film "City of God". "City of God" demonstrated the violence and corruption within the favelas and with the police through the point of view of Rocket, a child from the City of God favela. Not only does the film show the coming of age of Rocket and his generation, but it shows the complex relationship between the people of the favela and the police. 

Larkins speaks of the police trying to find the "perfect image for the front page of the morning paper", where the police make a larger deal out of a small bust in order for themselves to seem powerful. This reminded me of the arrest of Knockout Ned in "City of God". Knockout Ned was paraded in front of cameras when he was arrested. He calls out the police on camera saying that they only try to arrest him a and never the real leader of the drug game, Lil Ze, showing that the police do not aim to eliminate the issue in the film, but rather hope to make it seem like they are making enormous strides with minimal effort. 

The interesting aspect of the film relating to the morning paper is that Rocket works at the newspaper, and their goal was to gain the most raw footage. In the end of the film, Rocket takes photos clearly incriminating the police of corruption, which are spread to the newspaper. This shows the police as the source of the corruption, rather than mass media as a whole. It is still important to note the effect of media on public perception. When Knockout Ned speaks on camera in the film, as noted above, he becomes a more personable character. In comparison Lil Ze' wants to be in the paper in order to prove his position of power in the favela. 

The hyper- definition of favelas comes from the over generalization of the location and people that are there. The beautiful aspect of the City of God was the sheer number of different storylines and characters throughout the movie that all came together in the favela. Although there were similarities in some storylines (both Shaggy and Benny try to leave the City of God and are killed), each character is unique in their experience and purpose in the film.