It seems that the geek takeover of Carnaval is becoming a trend.
Carnaval in Salvador. People in the middle row paid for V.I.P. access - denoted by the obligatory wearing of a dorky T-shirt called “abada”, which costs between R$ 250 and R$ 1500 (roughly $ 100 to $ 750).
The City of Salvador has the greatest African ancestry in Brazil, with about 70% of residents self-identifying as black. The V.I.P. access is not segregated in any way, except for “Filhos de Gandhi” block, which accepts only blacks (“Filhos de Gandhi” means Sons of Gandhi - yes, the Indian guy). The locals are not willing to pay those outrageous prices for the dubious privilege of not mixing up with poor (and often colored) people.
Those douchey whitey V.I.P.s (heh) are tourists from southern Brazil and elsewhere in the world.
Note (edit): I’m in no way defending the theory that Brazil doesn’t have racism. What I’m saying is that this particular picture, impressive as it is, is showing the difference between locals and tourists. You can probably find a similar color contrast between VIP rooms against bleacher seats during a Carnaval parade in Rio or São Paulo, or during soccer games - in that case, both are composed mostly of locals. Still, I’m calling the tourists douchey for paying overpriced tickets to not mix up with people and failing to notice the role they’re playing in the above picture
I remember first playing Street Figther 2 back in 1991, the kids were saying: “Hey, there’s a guy from Brazil”. “Cool, who is him?”. “The retarded green monster”.
Nowadays, Blanka is one of those things you learn to accept about the homeland.
One of these days I’m going to celebrate Mardi Gras in Rio.
Can you believe the above kitschy hitlerjugend angels won against the cinema-based parade?
Coffin Joe, Jaws, Transformers, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Avatar etc. Aside (or including) the obligatory peacock costumes, this year’s parade from Unidos da Tijuca was geek’s wet dream. For the sake of innovation, I really hope they win.
