Ariano Suassuna e a indústria cultural: interfaces entre o Movimento Armorial e a crítica filosófica da Escola de Frankfurt

Abstract

In a context marked by increasing globalization and the imposition of a massified culture promoted by the so-called Cultural Industry, the authentic expressions of local cultures, such as our popular traditions, are increasingly marginalized and replaced by standardized cultural products detached from the historical and identity roots of our people. Within this framework, the present study seeks to analyze how the Armorial Movement, envisioned by Ariano Suassuna in the 1970s, acted as a movement of resistance to the commodification and cultural homogenization driven by the Cultural Industry, drawing parallels with the philosophical critique of the Frankfurt School, particularly through the works of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer on this subject. Methodologically, the study adopted a qualitative research approach with an exploratory focus, grounded in the hypothetical-deductive method. For data collection, bibliographic review and document analysis techniques were employed. The study is structured into three main analytical blocks: first, it presents a brief historical overview of the roots of the Armorial Movement, from its creation in the 1970s to its recent phases, discussing foundational concepts such as the categories of “high art” and “popular art.” The second part theoretically addresses the notions of Cultural Industry and mass culture from the critical perspective of the Frankfurt School. The third section explores possible convergences between the Armorial Movement and the Frankfurt critique, emphasizing the political-aesthetic dimension of the Armorial Movement regarding the Cultural Industry, supported by various collected materials, such as the "Cultural Project Pernambuco – Brazil," developed by Suassuna and other collaborators during his tenure as Secretary of Culture for the state of Pernambuco. Finally, it concludes by reaffirming the importance of the Frankfurt School as the first critical current to systematize a Theory of the Cultural Industry, highlighting the relevance of the topic and the necessity, as proposed here based on the Armorial Movement, of analyzing these issues from the perspective of local realities and the particular challenges faced by countries in the so-called “Third World” or “peripheral capitalism,” such as Brazil and other Latin American nations. In this regard, the centrality of defending “national identity” is emphasized as a premise of libertarian radicalism and revolutionary self-affirmation in the struggle against the ideological and modern forms of “globalized cultural imperialism,” recognizing in Ariano Suassuna’s work and the banners raised by the Armorial Movement an important milestone in the construction of an aesthetic program, a political discourse, and a cultural practice aimed at preserving our popular traditions as a form of resistance against processes of cultural massification and domination.