Distinguishing Tiao

Samuel Despinasse

Professor James

English 1102

8 February 2016

Distinguishing Tiao

Tiaõ (Sebastiao Carlos dos Santos) was the young, charismatic and ambitious picker and president of a landfill company located right outside of Rio de janeiro, Brazil known as ACAMJG (the Association of Recycling Pickers of Jardim Gramacho), who was encouraged by the political texts he saw in the waste and elevate the lives of his fellow catadores. For years, tiao has been collecting recycled material ever since he was a minor, and believed he could turn this into a long life hobby. The neighborhood where the landfill was located was an awful, poverty-stricken community populated with unemployed people. He wanted to help the people of Jardim Gramacho with a steady job so they can benefit their family and homes. According to the Oscar nominated film Wasteland, every picker has a background story or experiences at the wasteland. The pickers feel as if Tiao is a big inspiration to them because they were to believe that you can turn nothing into something, meaning a poor community with nothing valuable to having the largest growing dump  in Latin America. Little did Tiao know, all these recycled material they were picking turned out to be something more valuable than expected with having a different perspective on it; which is art. Tiao wasn't familiar with what art was until Brazilian artist Vik Muniz decided to create sculptures that contained the waste from the wasteland. While writing these key conceptions towards Tiao and his globally known wasteland, I contemplated over questions such as: How do viewers see the different character components of Tiao and why are these significant? What is the significance of Tiao's influential effect on the people in Jardim Gramacho? How and in what way does Tiao realize he can make a positive impact on society globally?

The viewers of the film Wasteland witnesses the diversity of the character traits CEO and founder of ACAMJG Tiao compose of, exposing all the aspects of the kind of person he is, which then results to a young admirable man that has an ambitious endeavor for his employees and company. One of Tiao's many character components the audience detect in the movie Wasteland, is the carefulness and providing instincts he has towards the employee that works for him. Although Tiaos pickers were employed, numerous of them did not even possess a registered identification. Tiao's main objective towards his employee of his wasteland company was to make sure they can all be in existence in the employment system of Brazil, so they can pursue in a more suitable and efficient skilled job, unlike his. For example, the Association of Recycling Pickers of Jardim Gramacho manages an open event every Saturday, so that employees can apply for their documents and begin to exist in the system. Tiao feels the pickers biggest difficulty is being able to vindicate their rights. Throughout the film, the audience sees Tiao desires for all the pickers being more skilled oriented so they can someday work elsewhere. The significance of Tiao characteristics highly matters because he is the president of the company, and pickers may feel as if he is the only person who can assist them at this point. As a result, the viewers get a glimpse of the providing and caring characteristic Tiao consists of. Viewers sense the ongoing leadership Tiao contains and with leadership, comes many responsibilities he fulfills to accomplish regarding the pickers and his company. By being a leader and having such a high position, these character components can make an influential impact to a bigger audience such as the society of Jardim Gramacho.

The importance of Tiao becoming an influential figure was very necessary and accommodating towards the citizens of Jardim Gramacho, due to the despairing circumstances the people of the Jardim were facing, it displayed how one man can change a poor local society. In the movie Wasteland, Tiao becoming the CEO and founder of ACAMJG alone lead up to these influential components, because he was aware that Jardim Gramacho needed someone they can think highly of, or at least become motivated from. When you're in a high position of power like Tiao is, your actions and decision makings affect the people who they impose to. Although Jardim Gramacho was not the finest neighborhood in Brazil, the key characteristics and striving desires Tiao composed of, demonstrated how you do not let the location determine your preservation. He wanted to make a difference for the pickers of his company and to the neighborhood that was always in a bad state of mind. He instantly became a positive figure, to the eyes of his employees, and it was only a matter of time he was to become a role model for the citizens of Jardim Gramacho. For instance, Tiao became such a influential person, that even successful Brazilian artist Vik Muniz, looked up to him in certain aspects. Tiao was such an genuine and delighted person all around, at all times. No matter the circumstance or condition of what Jardim Gramacho contained, that did not stop Tiao objectives of what he planned for his company and the pickers, which was to become more skilled and to make sure providing for pickers family was not an issue. This motivated Vik to become a better artist, but overall a better person. Furthermore, his initiatives and attributions towards the company and for the citizen of Jardim Gramacho shows anything is possible. As poor as the society of Jardim Gramacho is, one would not have thought they would contribute their time and effort into the neighborhood. But because of these aspects, this is why Tiao leadership is so important to the people of Jardim Gramacho. When the company gained recognition due to Vik Muniz selling portraits that would endorse to the landfill company, it was only a matter of time before Tio's influential effect could make an impact on a global society scale.

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