Carmen Miranda

• Carmen Miranda is a easy to figure to categorize. Did she play up cultural stereotypes or was she simply trying to make it in a market that did not allow deviation from the norm? These are not mutually exclusive ideas; both can be true.
• I completely understand the Brazilians rejection of her. She parodied their culture and she was not even Brazilian, she was Portuguese! Imagine if "Larry the Cable Guy" (for whom I wish nothing but evil because he is guilty of the worst sin that man can commit: making people dumber than they already are) performed in Europe and was considered the an example of American culture. Even rednecks would hate him then! She also betrayed them by being a musician in Brazil, but then moving to the U.S. and doing exploitative films that betrayed her country and her identity.
  
• I do not understand how the Brazilian people could reject her, but that thousands came to her funeral. Why would they pay respects to this Malinchista? She sold out to gringos in order to make a quick buck. In my opinion, any attempt to paint her in any other light (as the movie did) is foolish at best. She was a tool of American imperialism, a tool of the Good Neighbor policy. The movie tried to show her as having some control over her roles by threatening the producers that she would drop her accent. First, I believe that this is false because although she was one of their biggest money-making stars, they could have replaced her quickly. Second, if it is true, what a phony! Adopting a fake accent in order to fit into American perceptions of what a Brazilian should speak like.
• She betrayed her gender and her race by playing sexually provocative roles, but still taking second banana to the American, usually blond, starlet. As the article stated, she was only acceptable as an object of desire, but never as a woman. She was lusted after by her opposites in movies, but never achieved commitment from her American counterparts. All that she had was her sexuality, nothing more.
• Miranda was a burlesque fool. That was the only role that she was able to play successfully. Is this a reflection on the audience's preferences or her own lack of talent and intelligence. In my opinion, it was both.
• Sorry that this is a bit more negative than other posts, but I really despise Miranda. I think it is important to study her for what she represents, but she must never be admired. She is the definition of a Malinchista.