Zé Povinho is the cartoon character of a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

everyman The everyman is a stock character of fiction. An ordinary and humble character, the everyman is generally a protagonist whose benign conduct fosters the audience's identification with them. Origin The term ''everyman'' was used as early as ...

created in 1875 by

Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro (21 March 1846 – 23 January 1905; spelled Raphael Bordallo Pinheiro in older Portuguese orthography) was a Portuguese artist known for his illustration, caricatures, sculpture, and ceramics designs. Bordalo Pinheiro ...

. He became first a symbol of the Portuguese working-class people, and eventually into the unofficial personification of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Overview

"Zé", in

, is a common short form of the name "José" – as "Joe" is for "Joseph", in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

– and "Povinho" is a diminutive for "Povo", which means "

people A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

". His name is thus the equivalent of "Joe Public", "Joe Everyman", "

Joe Shmoe Joe Shmoe (also spelled Joe Schmoe and Joe Schmo), meaning "Joe Anybody", or no one in particular, is a commonly used fictional name in American English. Adding a "Shm" to the beginning of a word is meant to diminish, negate, or dismiss an argum ...

", or "

John Doe John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law enforcement in the United States, such names are often ...

". The first appearance of ''Zé Povinho'' was on 22 May 1875, in ''A Lanterna Mágica'' magazine, although he was not yet given a name. He was named in the 6 December 1875 issue of the same magazine. Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro kept drawing this character throughout his lifetime (nearly another 30 years); the drawings were published in many of the more popular magazines and newspapers such as ''O António Maria'', ''A Paródia'', ''O Commércio do Porto Illustrado'' and ''Pontos nos iis''. Povinho is a well-regarded, kindly man who lives simply, and is regularly depicted as mocking the powerful. He is not a figure of authority but rather a simple man of the people, acting as a tool of criticism against the powerful, the political and elitist fringes of the society, injustice and tyranny. ''Zé Povinho'' became, and still is, a popular character in Portugal. Being drawn as a country laborer led to some aversion and denial from the Portuguese people to be represented as such. Yet his kindness, his will to help others and, most of all, his utter contempt and disrespect for the powerful ones that try to dominate him, made him popular. He ridicules the powerful, laughs at them, and then carries on with his simple life but has the same attitude towards the people's own weaknesses and prejudices.

Gallery

File:Lanterna Mágica - Zé Povinho.jpg, First apparition of ''Zé Povinho'' in ''A Lanterna Mágica'' magazine, 12 June 1875 File:Ze povinho lanterna magica 1875.jpg, ''Zé Povinho'' in ''A Lanterna Mágica'', 1875 File:O Zé Povinho - Depois das eleições, à vontade do seu dono, O Antonio Maria, 1880.jpg, ''Zé Povinho'' in the ''O António Maria'' magazine, 1880 File:Zé Povinho, Álbum das Glórias (cropped).png, Colour drawing of ''Zé Povinho'', 1882 File:Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro at Aeroporto metro station (8176850811).jpg, ''Zé Povinho'' and his creator caricatured in the Airport Station of the

Lisbon Metro The Lisbon Metro ( pt, Metropolitano de Lisboa) is the rapid transit system in Lisbon, Portugal. Opened in December 1959, it was the first metro system in Portugal. , the system's four lines total of route and serve 56 stations. History In ...

, 2012

References

*''Estudos em Homenagem a Jorge Borges de Macedo'', Lisbon, INIC, 1992

External link

National personifications Povinho, Ze Povinho, Ze National symbols of Portugal Portugal in fiction Povinho, Ze Povinho, Ze 1875 establishments in Portugal Comics before 1900 {{Culture-stub