The Irrepressible 'Emplastro'

SOMETHING I have always found incredibly bizarre since moving to Portugal, is the frequent appearance of a character known as Emplastro ("The Plaster"). Born in Madalena, a coastal parish of Vila Nova de Gaia, Fernando Alves is a former baker and was orphaned when he was very young. Sadly, however, he has the mental age of a child. Since the early-1990s Emplastro has become famous for popping up in front of the television cameras whenever a live outside broadcast is taking place, be it in Porto, Lisbon, Coimbra or right down in the Algarve. How he gets around is anyone's guess, and I'm sure they must invite him, but whilst I don't watch television at home I have seen him appear on TV screens in bars and cafés on numerous occasions. It can seem very creepy, I suppose, at least if you aren't aware of his condition, because he often leans his chin on the shoulder of a TV presenter or tries to grab the microphone. More often than not, he just slumps forward and stares. The oddest thing of all, is that nobody here really bats an eyelid and Emplastro has become part of the country's fixtures and fittings. The late president of my local football club, FC Porto, even paid for Emplastro to have his teeth fixed.

Whilst I would never poke fun at this unfortunate individual, I do think that he serves a more symbolic purpose. Think about who is staring back at him, for example, or consider how Friedrich Nietzsche famously warns us that "if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee." Although Emplastro is inevitably seen as a harmless village idiot, in this case the viewer begins to merge with that which he sees and thus the entire hall of mirrors collapses in on itself. Emplastro, therefore, a minor celebrity who - like it or not - has become a national symbol of insanity, is perhaps reminding those at the other end of the camera that they are not so different after all. Emplastro seems to emerge from the void as a parody of ourselves, but in reality he is part of us all.