Thursday, February 07, 2008

The Understated Charm of the Brazilians

A year and a month ago I was in Rio de Janeiro at a Samba School called Viraduoro. At the time I was struck by the boobs of the passistas, specifically in the ways these boobs were shaken and exposed. But there was, I realize, in retrospect something missing. And now, for this year's Carnaval, I realize what it was: The Holocaust. Turns out one of the floats the school had made for this year's carnaval was a pile of naked corpses with an Adolf Hitler look-a-like standing on top. Eeesh! [Pause] Aiyiyiyih![Runs around in circles, arms waving!] Needless to say, a judge banned the float from inclusion on the grounds that "Carnival should not be used as an instrument of hatred, any kind of racism and clear trivialisation of barbaric and unjustified acts against minorities."

The float was part of the school's theme of "Things That Give You Goose Bumps." The other floats in the procession included Cold, Fear and Birth.