Sarah Jane Smith | Kathy Schauer
POR 204
Paula Gandara
28 February 2013
Noel Rosa and Carmen Miranda: The
Construction of Brazilian Nationalism
Locate Authors: A Brief Biographical
Overview
Maria
do Carmo Miranda da Cunha was born on February 9, 1909, in a small Portuguese
town. She was the second of six children. Her father was a struggling barber
who moved his family to Rio not long after her birth. Miranda grew up in a
racially mixed and working-class area known as the Lapa district. She attended
Catholic school until she was 14, which is about six years of formal schooling.
She was forced to drop out of school in order to help contribute to her
family’s household income. She worked at an upscale hat store in downtown Rio
called La Femme Chic. In 1928, she adopted the public alias “Carmen Miranda,” a
combination of her mother’s maiden name and the Hispanic version of the latter
part of her name. This represented more than just a stage name, but rather a
conscious reinvention of self that reflected a bold, motivated and audacious
woman. (Ruis, Vicki: 2005, 199).
Miranda’s
career took off in 1930 with the recording of the hit song “Tai” composed by
Joubert de Carvalho. The expansion of the samba, and of Carmen’s popularity,
was greatly influenced by the restructuring of Brazilian nationalism during the
President Getulio Vargas regime. During the Vargas era, the Brazilian
government attempted to redefine the country’s national identity. The
government began promote this new African Brazilian culture through the use of
the Samba and through the use of Miranda to bridge the racial gap.
In
the late 1930’s Miranda traveled to the U.S. and soon became a political asset
between the two countries. Miranda was strategic in promoting Roosevelt’s Good
Neighbor Policy and the Pan-American ideals that were emphasized during this
era. With a high demand for Latin American artists, her popularity in the U.S.
skyrocketed as films began promoting the benefits of Pan-American friendships.
Although, she became very successful, she was stuck playing typecast roles that
were not authentic to Brazil. She represented a homogenized view of Latin
America. People in the United States were not able to differentiate Miranda
from the rest of Latin America due to the number of different films she was in
that portrayed her as a mix of multiple cultures.
Upon her return to
Brazil, Miranda was met with negativity, criticism and claims that she
dishonored her country. Her “Tutti-Frutti” number was censored in the country
of Carnival mainly due to the misrepresentation that Miranda embodied in the
United States. Some Brazilians saw her as “Americanized” and scorned her for
it. Because the samba is considered a quintessential form of Brazil, they did
not want the “Tutti-Frutti” number to also be misrepresented in Brazil as well.
It was an over-exaggerated and excessive number that explicitly promoted the
Good Neighbor message, not the Brazilian culture. It was a mixed of
cultures there were not authentic to Brazil, which justifies why the number was
censored. Due to the harsh criticism, Miranda refused to return to Brazil until
1940.
With
the end of World War II, Hollywood’s fascination with Latin America ended. In
1948, Miranda entered into an abusive marriage to David Sebastian. Even though
she was a driven and successful woman, Miranda never got a divorce. In 1954,
she suffered and emotional breakdown. The following year, Miranda suffered a
fatal heart attack at age 46.
Differences in Brazilian Nationalism:
Rosa Versus Miranda
Noel Rosa and Carmen Miranda are both
integral parts of Brazilian culture; both helped define the Brazilian identity
and nationalism. Rosa was one of the first to use samba to identify the
Brazilian national soul, and is considered one of the fathers of samba. His
samba often addresses the authorities and dangers they pose. Noel Rosa once
stated in an interview, “Samba is the voice of the people. Without grammar,
without artifice, without prejudice, without deceit. It is both crafty and
ingenious. The people of Rio feel the soul of the samba” (McCann: 2001, 1).
Carmen Miranda also played a role in
Brazilian nationalism, especially how the Brazilian identity is portrayed in
the United States and other countries around the globe. Coming from Brazil
during the Vargas era, Miranda was viewed as an ambassador from South America.
Both Rosa and Carmen Miranda tailored to different audiences. Noel Rosa’s main
audience was the poor people of Brazil. The poorer Brazilian populace loved
Miranda, and she also captivated audiences in the United States.
Nationalism and Political Influences
Noel Rosa was extremely concerned with
defining his view of national identity in his sambas. According to McCann, Rosa
“among the samba musicians and the down-and-out urban margins, and in the
neighborhood camaraderie in the lower middle-class Rio” (McCann: 2001, 2). In
Rosa’s logic, he did not only look to define the Brazilian national identity,
but to achieve it. He desired to protect this identity, as he saw it as an
endangered quality. Rosa believed it to be “threatened by the encroachments of
foreigners and squandered by bad Brazilians” (McCann: 2001: 3). Rosa was not
alone in his quest to define Brazilian national identity. In the art world
starting in the 1920s, artists and musicians had become increasingly concerned
with locating Brazilian identity and culture. Many turned their attention to
the urban culture with racially mixed backgrounds. The quest to define this
identity continued with Getúlio Vargas regime that rose to power in the 1930s.
However, the Vargas view of national identity and Rosa’s view contradicted one
another. Rosa views the identity as a samba culture with an emphasis on the malandro,
Vargas’ nationalistic efforts defined Brazilianness as the hard working man.
Vargas also worked to use nationalism to further the modernization of Brazil
and promote capitalism.
Vargas, very
concerned with nationalism, eventually used Carmen Miranda as a coup for
Brazilian nationalism. Carmen Miranda became the “Goodwill Ambassador” between
Brazil and the United States. Brazilian’s had even referred to her as their
“raw material” (Bananas is My Business). Miranda quickly began stealing the
hearts of Americans and became popular in films such as Down Argentine Way.
Despite Fox’s insistence that Miranda play typecast roles, she seemed to
reaffirm her Brazilian identity. Miranda “attempts to reaffirm her own
Brazilian identity, often by merely speaking a few words of Portuguese in a
film, and by poking fun at her poor English” (Shaw, Dennison: 2005, 187).
Miranda’s career flourished during the
time of the Vargas government in Brazil. During the time “racial politics
affected the economies of Brazil, and in an effort to improve Brazil’s
economics within global society, the government attempted to create a national
identity based on the racial identity politics that were previously
established” (Ellis: 2008, 24). As we discussed in class, miscegenation and
whitening were promoted throughout Brazil. These efforts, historically, were
considered racist until Gilberto Freyre’s Casa Grande e Senzala
reinterpreted these issues into African women’s sexuality. This
reinterpretation paved the way for Carmen Miranda to be the prominent global
face of Brazilian national identity. She is an “Europan-Afro Brazilian” and personified
Freyre’s ideas. This is shown by Ellis, “Carmen Miranda was the most prominent
global icon of Brazilian national identity because she was able to reinforce
Brazilian nationhood through her performance of the ideals set by the Vargas
regime, thereby personifying Freyre’s ideas” (Ellis: 2008, 24).
Works Cited
Ellis, Amanda J. Captivating
a Country with Her Curves: Examining the Importance of Carmen Miranda's
Iconography in Creating National Identities. N.p.: ProQuest, 2008. Print.
McCann, Brian.
"Noel Rosa's Nationalistic Logic." EBSCOhost. Luso-Brazilian
Review, 2001. Web. 27 Feb. 2013.
<http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=4d49201b-3e1e-42de-96ba-284b82c2f86d%40sessionmgr12&vid=2&hid=15>.
Shaw, Lisa, and
Stephanie Dennison. Pop Culture Latin America!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle.
Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2005. Print.
Roberts, Shari. “”The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat”: Carmen
Miranda, a
Spectacle of Ethnicity.” JSTOR.
University of Texas Press, Spring 1993. Web. 18 Feb. 2013
Ruis, Vicki; Sanchez
Korrol, Virginia, (2005). Latina Legacies: Identity,
Biography, and Community.
Oxford University Press.
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