Monsters, Bottle Rockets, Bamboos, Balls and the Utmost Depth: enchantments in performances of a streetwise youth

Abstract

 This article is dedicated to scrutinizing some images and objects produced within a universe of marginalized youth cultures. Given the high flow of youngsters among these cultures, these practices are here understood as a network. Such network involves piXação (graffiti tagging), torcidas organizadas (soccer supporters’ groups, i.e. hooligans, ultras, etc.), bate-bolas (bat-balls, masked carnival clowns) and bailes funk (favela funk parties). They were consequently analyzed with an approach that is interested in the studies of the imaginary, and in their relations with anthropology, philosophy and psychology; the monsters that give name to the sound crews of the bailes funk, the bamboos used by the torcidas organizadas, the balls/balloons swung by the batebolas, the weapon-allegory ambivalence of rojões (bottle rockets), and the image of the fundão (utmost depth).