Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Blonde Bombshell: Xuxa and Notions of Whiteness in Brazil

2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 22; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13569325.2013.804810

1469-9575

Stephanie Dennison,

Critical Race Theory in Education

Abstract This article analyses the construction of whiteness in Xuxa's star text. It will consider not only Xuxa's role in television, for which she is best known, and her relationship with the sexually conservative and predominantly white TV Globo, but also her filmic output: Xuxa has appeared in twenty films to date, most of which were box-office smash hits. The article thus takes as its main focus the development of the promotion of Xuxa as an ideal of whiteness. It reveals in particular the uses made of notions of whiteness in the construction of her star text and the maintenance of her massive appeal in her native Brazil. Notes 1 Baixinhos, literally the little people, refers here to the term used for children by Xuxa in her TV shows. 2 Star text here refers to the star's formal performances (televisual, cinematic, musical, etc.), interviews given by the star and her management on her performances, mass-media interpretations of the star, evidenced reactions of the public to the star, and the aspects of the star's private life that find their way into the public domain. I thus refer to Maria de Graça Meneghel throughout this article as Xuxa (i.e. the star). 3 I define Globo as sexually conservative, given the network's much criticised caution in screening scenes of non-heteronormative affection. Consider, for example, the recent controversy surrounding the axing of a homosexual love scene from the soap opera Insensato Coração (2011). 4 I am less interested in establishing the extent of the agency of Maria de Graça Meneghel in the creation of Xuxa the star (although the quite regular denial/confirmation of agency on her part does, as we shall see, form part of her star text) and more in the 'social and cultural patterns' (Williams 2007 Williams, Rebecca. 2007. "From Beyond Control to In Control: Investigating Drew Barrymore's Feminist Agency/Authorship". In Fame Culture: The Reader in Stardom and Celebrity, Edited by: Holmes, Su and Redmond, Sean. London: Sage. [Google Scholar]: 112) that Xuxa the star has come to embody. As Rebecca Williams has argued, stars are often perceived as 'the sole "creator" of their star persona', thus negating the collaborative nature of a star's profession (2007: 120). I acknowledge the role of star, management, the mass media and the public as agents in the process of star formation. 5 I am grateful to participants of the conference 'White Spaces? Racialising White Femininities and Masculinities', held at the University of Leeds in 2009, for inspiration in developing my ideas on Brazil's unique set of 'white spaces'. There are, of course, many more 'white spaces' in Brazil, most of which are linked, as they are elsewhere, with income: these include certain sports (tennis, swimming), certain leisure activities (ballet, for example) and, more significantly, Higher Education. 6 Worthy of mention in this regard is the work on whiteness in Brazil by Maria Aparecida Silva Bento Bento, Maria Aparecida Silva. 2002. "Branqueamento e branquitude no Brasil". In Psicologia social do racismo: estudos sobre branquitude e branqueamento no Brasil, Edited by: Carone, Iray and Bento, Maria Aparecida Silva. 25–58. Petrópolis: Vozes. [Google Scholar]: see, for example, 'Branqueamento e branquitude no Brasil', in Iray Carone and Maria Aparecida Silva Bento (eds.), Psicologia social do racismo: estudos sobre branquitude e branqueamento no Brasil (Petrópolis: Vozes, 2002): 25–58, in which Bento argues that the lack of reflection on the role of whites in racial inequality is a way of maintaining the belief that racial inequality is a problem exclusive to blacks, since only blacks are studied, dissected and problematised. In Significados de ser branco – a brancura no corpo e para além dele (USP 2010), Luciana Alves Alves, Luciana. 2010. Significados de ser branco: a brancura no corpo e para além dele, Unpublished Master's dissertation, USP [Google Scholar] argues that a refusal to discuss whiteness in the context of debates on race in Brazil serves to reinforce the association between whiteness and positivity. See also the work of Liv Sovik: for example 'We are Family: Whiteness in the Brazilian Media', Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies 13:3 (2004), pp. 315–25. 7 For a succinct summary of branqueamento (whitening) in Brazil, see Nancy Leys Stepan Stepan, Nancy Leys. 1991. The Hour of Eugenics: Race Gender and Nation in Latin America, 154–156 and 159–161. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. [Google Scholar], The Hour of Eugenics: Race Gender and Nation in Latin America (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1991), pp. 154–56 and 159–61. A more detailed analysis can be found in Thomas E. Skidmore Skidmore, Thomas E. 1972. Black into White: Race and Nationality in Brazilian Thought, New York: Oxford University Press. [Google Scholar], Black into White: Race and Nationality in Brazilian Thought (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972). 8 It is interesting to observe evidence of a shift in this process of self-identification as white by those close to the white/brown boundary, witnessed in the distinct drop in the number of Brazilians self-identifying as white in the latest census: from 55.74% in 2000 to 47.33% in 2010. 9 Consider also Ali Kamel's Kamel, Ali. 2006. Não somos racistas: uma reação aos que querem nos transformar numa numa nação bicolor, Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira. [Google Scholar] best-selling critique of the introduction of positive discrimination in Brazilian public universities, Não somos racistas: uma reação aos que querem nos transformar numa nação bicolor (Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 2006). In what amounts to a defence of the myth of Brazilian racial democracy, Kamel interestingly makes no allusion to his own 'non-Caucasian' racial origins. 10 There is a certain tradition in Brazil of dismissing the role the Portuguese played in the development of the cultural life of the nation. The nation's intellectual formation is undoubtedly French-inspired; popular culture has been influenced both by Afro-Brazilian and more recently by North American culture; the failure of the Dutch occupation of Brazil (1630–1654) is anecdotally referred to with a certain regret; and until quite recently, as a result of the current obsession with claiming any old European ancestry for the purposes of gaining a European passport and thus the right to work in Europe (particularly after post-9/11 clampdowns on entry to the United States), first- and second-generation Portuguese in Brazil were the bearers of next-to-no kudos. The work of Portuguese essayist and philosopher Eduardo Lourenço Lourenço, Eduardo. 1999. A nau de Ícaro seguido de imagem e miragem da lusofonia, Lisboa: Gradiva. [Google Scholar] is particularly enlightening with regard to the perception of Portugal and the Portuguese in Brazil: see, for example, A nau de Ícaro seguido de imagem e miragem da lusofonia (Lisboa: Gradiva, 1999). 11 Through her grandparents she is thus afforded the right to a European passport and hence access to an alternative 'first-world' identity (i.e. the right to live and work abroad). 12 While such foregrounding may not have been strategically deployed by Xuxa and Pelé in promotion/marketing, it was certainly implicit in images of them together. In this regard it is interesting to consider Xuxa to be a forerunner of the contemporary media phenomenon of the British WAG (wife or girlfriend of footballers), in many ways anticipating the use white 'would-be' celebrities make of relationships with (black) footballers. 13 Simpson draws attention to the symbolic significance of Xuxa's regular stage entrance via a spaceship in her first children's TV series for Globo, as if appearing 'out of nowhere' (1993: 73). 14 Sonia Braga has played a range of roles on Brazilian TV and film screens, from white southern housewives to north-eastern peasants and slaves (as well as Mexican-Americans and Eastern Europeans on screens outside Brazil). For more information on Sonia Braga's star text, see Dennison 2006 Dennison, Stephanie. 2006. "The New Brazilian Bombshell: Sonia Braga, Race and Cinema in the 1970s". In Remapping World Cinema: Identity, Culture, Politics on Film, Edited by: Dennison, Stephanie and Lim, Song Hwee. London: Wallflower Press. [Google Scholar]. 15 For a fascinating exploration of such values and their origins, see Dyer 1997 Dyer, Richard. 1997. White, London: Routledge. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]. 16 Xuxa's close association with Globo (based in Rio), and the fact that she built her own business empire in Rio, helps to reinforce this association. By contrast the aforementioned model Gisele Bunchen, who lives abroad, is much more clearly identified as a gaúcha. 17 Xuxa no longer occupies a place in such lists: the only Brazilian who is currently on the Forbes Entertainment List is the blonde fellow gaúcha (or Southerner) supermodel Gisele Bundchen. 18 Xuxa has been particularly adept at maintaining her place at the top end of the music market. She has successfully 'rebranded' her material in an effort to keep in tune with her increasingly sophisticated primary-school-aged market: what began as the rather cute Xuxa só para baixinhos (Xuxa Just for Little People) CD and DVD series has been cleverly relabelled in the abbreviated form XSPB. 19 Both these 'rules' have been rewritten by the remarkable success of Globofilmes, Globo's film production wing set up in 1998, which regularly co-produces films that are both marketed via TV Globo and give Hollywood blockbusters a run for their money at the box-office. 20 One possible source of this alternative discovery myth might be an interview Xuxa gave to the Folha de São Paulo newspaper on 2 May 1982, in which she played down the significance of posing nude, stating that the photos were so innocuous that even her father showed them to his friends: quoted in Simpson 1993 Simpson, Amelia. 1993. Xuxa: The Mega-Marketing of Gender, Race and Modernity, Philadelphia: Temple University Press. [Google Scholar]: 27. The revelations made by Xuxa in the Brazilian press in May 2012 regarding the sexual abuse she suffered as a child also resonate with this alternative discovery myth; see 'Em entrevista, Xuxa diz que sofreu abuso sexual' 'Em entrevista, Xuxa diz que sofreu abuso sexual'. Available at http://veja.abril.com.br/noticia/celebridades/em-entrevista-xuxa-diz-que-sofreu-abuso-sexual [Google Scholar], available at http://veja.abril.com.br/noticia/celebridades/em-entrevista-xuxa-diz-que-sofreu-abuso-sexual (accessed 22 May 2012). 21 It is useful to compare, for example, Carmen Miranda's appropriation of 'tropes of Blackness' in her star text (samba, candomblé, earthy and open sexuality, and so on). For more information on Carmen Miranda, see Shaw and Dennison 2007 Shaw, Lisa and Dennison, Stephanie. 2007. Brazilian National Cinema, London: Routledge. [Google Scholar]: 120–25. 22 There is plenty of home-grown folklore in Brazil, although most of it, when it is screened on Brazilian television, tends to be aired by state-run channels with an educational remit (for example TVE and TV Cultura). It is interesting to note that Xuxa's main blonde rival on TV Globo, Angélica, has in contrast become associated on her TV shows with the dissemination of Brazilian folklore, such as the work of writer Monteiro Lobato (1882–1848) and the folk stories collected by Câmara Cascudo. 23 In her follow-up study of the Xuxa phenomenon published in 1998, Simpson draws attention to Xuxa's appropriation of a black space, the world of Brazilian funk (a local Brazilian version of Miami bass), in her TV shows in the late 1990s (then aimed at adolescents and young adults). The success of this appropriation was relatively short-lived, and was not mirrored to any major extent in her films. 24 Simpson references an alleged kidnapping attempt on Xuxa by two young brothers in 1991, and the reaction to the case in the media, as an illustration of the star's lack of ability to maintain the fantasy façade after this date. See Simpson 1993 Simpson, Amelia. 1993. Xuxa: The Mega-Marketing of Gender, Race and Modernity, Philadelphia: Temple University Press. [Google Scholar]: 171, 193. 25 The notorious paramilitary vigilante gangs, many of whose members were said to be off-duty police officers, hired to 'clean the streets' of large cities such as Rio and São Paulo, and particularly active in the 1980s. 26 For more information on this interesting tale, see Setti 2010 Setti, Ricardo. 2010. Histórias secretas de Playboy (4): o dia em que Pelé foi, pessoalmente, recolher todas as fotos de Xuxa nua. Veja Online, 27 November. Available at http://veja.abril.com.br/blog/ricardo-setti/bytes-de-memoria/historias-secretas-de-playboy-5-o-dia-em-que-pele-foi-pessoalmente-recolher-todas-as-fotos-de-xuxa-nua/ (accessed 1 December 2010) [Google Scholar]. 27 This feature of Xuxa's iconography has become particularly noticeable over the last ten years, and may have to do with her age too. Luminosity is what so many 'mature' women strive to reveal in their complexions, and brightening products do tend to dominate the make-up shelves aimed at 40-plus women. 28 Compare, for example, the appropriation of lower-ranking soldier fatigues by the likes of British singer-celebrity Cheryl Cole, where the cultural inspiration is arguably quite different – the ongoing loss of young British soldiers in the Middle East. 29 Xuxa, Marlene Mattos and Globo were found guilty of plagiarism in 2009 by a school teacher who had sent suggestions of games to Xuxa's TV show. In her defence, Xuxa claimed that she was merely a Globo employee, who just received scripts from her bosses and who was unaware of their origin. In interviews she often cites Globo as the reason for changes made to her involvement with television (for example, claiming that Globo insisted she shift to a [less successful] teenage and then family show format in the 1990s and early 2000s, even though she prefers to work with little children). When interviewed together with Marlene Mattos, Xuxa would remain almost entirely silent and allow the seemingly stronger Mattos to speak for her. It is interesting to note that in the context of her new 'friendship' with Ivete Sangalo, when interviewed together Xuxa once again takes the back seat and allows the conversation to be dominated by the louder Sangalo. 30 A brief aside on the subject of naming Xuxa rainha or 'queen': while the term 'rei' (king) is frequently used in colloquial terms to denote an exceptional contribution to popular culture, regardless of skin colour (both footballer Pelé and popular singer Roberto Carlos are frequently referred to as 'o rei'; consider also the Reis do Congo – an important Afro-Brazilian cultural tradition, for example), it is interesting to note that the title Rainha (queen) is invested sparingly in Brazilian cultural figures, and when it is, they are almost exclusively white (Xuxa, Queen of the Little People, the rainhas do rádio or Queens of the airwaves – popular singers from the 1940s, and even the Rainha do Mar – Iemanjá, Queen of the Sea and one of the most popular deities from Candomblé, who went through her own process of 'whitening' and nowadays is depicted as a white goddess). 31 Such rumours began as early as 1991 in relation to a Xuxa doll that was said to have wept blood: see Simpson 1998 Simpson, Amelia. 1998. Representing Racial Diffference: Brazil's Xuxa at the Televisual Border. Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, 17: 197–212. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]: 197. Xuxa successfully sued the Folha universal, a newspaper owned by the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (Universal Church of the Kingdom of God) for alleging that she had sold her soul to the devil in exchange for 100 million dollars. 32 http://xuxa.globo.com (accessed 14 June 2010). At the time of going to press (early 2013) Xuxa.com is actively tweeting once more. 33 Likewise in 2012 Xuxa took TV presenter Gugu Liberato to court for showing the 1982 Playboy photos on the Programa do Gugu (TV Record). 34 Xuxa herself has been successfully sued on at least two occasions: once by a former bodyguard and once by a schoolteacher (referred to earlier). Another bodyguard took action against her in 2010 for loss of earnings. 35 Brazilian internet users had already expressed en masse their dissatisfaction both with the ruling that temporarily suspended the activities of YouTube in Brazil (in order to remove from the internet images of TV presenter Daniela Cicarelli having sex on a beach in Spain), and with Globo's success at removing uploads of its latest soaps from Youtube. 36 Following Europe and the US's lead, Brazilian TV features a number of programmes following the private lives of (minor) celebrities. In relation to Xuxa, YouTube is currently awash with 'versions' of Xuxa's TV shows portraying her as talking dirty, mistreating and swearing at children, and providing evidence of her infamous alleged pact with the Devil. 37 'I am different to you/you are different from me/I am different to you/But even so/You will like me': from the song 'Você vai gostar de mim' on the XSPB 10 DVD (2010). 38 In his defence I should state that Dyer recognises that the place of Latin American whites within conceptualistions of whiteness has been questioned over the last two centuries. He admits that by white he means English, Anglo-Saxon or the northern European (or their descendants) variety: 1997: 12–13.