The film that influenced São Paulo’s punk gang scene, according to João Gordo

Vocalist João Gordo, from Ratos de Porão, went back in time to remember the beginning of the Brazilian punk scene and the climate of violence that took over the streets of São Paulo in the 1980s. In an interview with Instituto Cultiva, the musician explained that the behavior of punk gangs at the time was strongly inspired by a 1979 North American film: The Warriors.

According to João, the film served as fuel to transform São Paulo’s punk culture into a gang phenomenon. “The punk movement in São Paulo became a gang because of the film Warriors. It’s a film about gangs in New York, and everyone started imitating that. Each neighborhood created its own punk gang, and there were fights all the time”, said the vocalist. He remembers that the lack of information and the distorted way in which the media portrayed punk also helped to fuel the confusion. “I discovered punk through Veja and Fantástico, who said that we drank milk with lemon to vomit on old ladies. It was all a lie”, he joked.

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The musician highlighted that, behind the violence, there was a context of peripheral youth and the end of the military dictatorship. “The punk movement was mixed with banditry, but that youth banditry – fisticuffs, small blows. There was no cocaine yet, it was more pills. It was angry kids, without space, screaming to exist”, he stated.

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João Gordo and the punks

In another interview, João Gordo once again commented on the topic, recalling the tense atmosphere on the streets of São Paulo. In conversation with the Intelligence Ltda. podcast, the vocalist summed up what it was like to live in that period:

“There’s always been these gangs in Brazil, mostly because of the movie Warriors. In my case, I’ve always been a bit of a soft ass, but I’ve been let down several times. I’ve been hit with a bottle and stabbed in the thigh. The punk who stabbed me licked my blood!” The artist concludes with dark humor: “It was dangerous to leave the house. We carried brass knuckles, shocks, knives… it was survival.”

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