Introduction
I don't wanna copy a wikipedia blurb here so I'll be brief. 3% is the first ever brazilian production on Netflix, it's a dystopia setting (closest to Divergent I'd say) where everyone lives in the Continent until they reach 20 years old and can undertake the Process. The Process is like, a series of logic puzzles for the most part? There's some tests where people do get hurt but it's hardly a killing game. The 3% of canditates that make it to the end get to join the the island utopia called... I don't know what it's called in english but in portuguese it's called Maralto.
It's gonna be a bit weird talking about this since I don't wanna check what the localize terms. And there's also a lot of references to brazilian culture. For example, the vaccine people take when they go to Maralto seems like it's a reference to the vaccine mark a lot of people here have (but that I recently learned is a latin america thing in general actually). Also the whole thing with Rafael's family seems to be like, one of the main talking points people used against Bolsa Família. Which... sucks and doesn't work in my opion, but it is a brazilian cultural reference.
Also the cursing is probably less funny in english? I dunno I just feel like cursing in english is not as fun.
I think you can still watch it if you're not brazilian of course. One of the directors is the guy that made Cidade de Deus (City of God, apparently) and I think that's a movie that people tend to like? Also if you're american I think you need to consume foreign media once in a while because the rest of the world has to put up with american media and culture and politics every day.
I'll try to be as spoiler free as I can because I want people to go watch it.
Not Really A Review But I Don't Want To Call It "Thoughts" Again
I don't know for sure but I'd assume it's gotta be hard to make a mainstream dystopia series with a metaphor that's 100% cohesive, mostly because whoever's gonna fund and air it probably won't want to fund something that portrays class war as something that's 100% going to work. In my eyes there's like, three main types of series that make it:
- The metaphor doesn't properly represent what actually goes on in the real world but the working class does achieve a better future
- The metaphor is mostly right but the status quo is mantained or the world goes to shit
- They focus on the dystopia aesthetics and don't even try to have a message other than like, greed bad
I did like 3% a lot but I'd say it falls more in line with the first option if I had to pick one. I think the portrayal of the relation between the 3% and the 97% is a little... strange? Or like, the lack thereof. Maralto is fully self-sufficient, they don't really rely on the Continent for food or labor or anything other than bringing new people into their closed society. And yeah, the population thing is a big thing in-universe (even though it's not discussed a lot), but more often than not in the real world one side keeps the other one miserable because they want to exploit their resources.
I think the whole core theme of meritocracy is a little... hmmmm I don't know. Like, technically it is a true meritocracy in this case since you can't have children in Maralto so everyone starts out miserable in the Continent. Even the "powerful" family whose members always make it into the 3% lives in relative misery. I think as a thought experiment on meritocracy it is a pretty good one, but I don't know if it's really all that... relevant?
The main thing against meritocracy in the real world is that it's impossible for everyone to start out in the same condition. Rich kids are gonna be able to afford a better education, and poor people that would otherwise do really well in their chosen field can't even make it to the field because everything is money. Like I do think the show is a pretty good metaphor on why having a true meritocracy would still be a bad idea, but still. Would have liked nepotism to feature into this as well somehow, I think they missed the opportunity to do something like that with the Álvares family.
Okay now talking more about the content of the show itself:
Season 1 is... alright! I dunno, it's my opinion that it's hard to mess up one of these dystopias during the "hunger games" arc, it's only after the games when the authors have to make more meaningful political commentary that it falls apart. I think the tests themselves were neat, I think that having none of them involve killing each other gives a bit more credences as to why the working class would endure something like that (sorry Squid Game). I agree with the critics that say the complex characters really carry the show, it was really fun to see all the different perspectives and have good character drama even when the Process itself wasn't that engaging.
I didn't expect it to turn out that way, but season 2 is probably my favorite. I know what I said about the whole thing falling apart after the games, and I also said I didn't like a lot of the metaphors they used, but I do like how much they commit to it. It's really interesting seeing the clashing ideals between the resistance (the Cause, stupid name), the 3%, the protagonists that want to end the Process but don't want to blow up anyone, and the protagonist that doesn't believe in anything. That last one was so fun, in any other series having a protagonist that's not on either side is the curse of centrism speaking, but here she actually doesn't believe in anything and backstabs everyone and everyone thinks she's a psychopath for it. Great stuff.
Sadly in season 3 it does turn into curse of centrism. Like, she has her character moment and picks up a single (1) ideal and so now she has to convince both the audience and the other characters that she's for real. The whole thing of having a different Process because they're in a society where having a Process is the norm is just... I dunno, this could have been a one episode thing, not a whole season. A lot of other characters change goals and while it's not like a total 180 but it feels more simplistic and childish. I feel like this season in general was way less mature, felt like I was watching a novela or playground drama with guns rather than a Hunger Games.
I'm fresh off season 4 so my thoughts aren't fully solidified yet but I do like it more than 3 at least. They have to tie up drama from 3 which sucks, but they do have a "rich people won't just give up their power if you're nice enough to them actually" moment I liked. We get to see a little bit of another Process but it's used to show how fucked up and evil the dictatorship guy is so I don't mind it too much. I dunno, themes wise I think it's not thaaat much better than season 3, but the characters go back to being more interesting and seeing all of those arcs play out to the end was really fun. The ending was... eh? Bad? "Let's all go to the polls" type shit? But I don't mind that much.
Here's some silly dystopia outfits from seasons 3 and 4:
I feel like I should end this post saying something positive... I don't want people to see all the criticisms I have and discard it as another derivative dystopia (I call it "brazilian Divergent" as a joke), but it's really hard to talk about the character moments without going into spoilers.
Despite the curse of centrism looming over it I do like the way they portray the resistance to the dystopian system. The actual Cause is about what you'd expect from something like this, but it doesn't go the Hunger Games route of "the resistance is using propaganda and the tools of the oppressor because they're just as bad". The protagonists that think the Cause is too extreme still want to change the status quo and not through "talking to the wealthy nicely until they acknowledge we're people".
And hey, it's a brazilian show and it's good so I gotta vouch for it. I'm 5-9 years later to the hype about this show, I would consider myself culturally alienated (and I'm not proud of it) but still seeing all the cultural references in a production of this scale and quality still makes me feel something, you know? Give it a chance, if you like dystopias or Hunger Games or Squid Games or whatever other kinds of Games there are (I've seen people say it's similar to Maze Runner but I never read/watched that) then I think there's something for you here.