It is quite likely that Carnival is the most celebrated profane popular festival in Brazil. Carnival is celebrated in quite different ways according to the region. But there is a fact that affects the vast majority of people, with access to television, when the subject is Carnival: the naked or almost naked bodies of women.
The reflection on bodies and their use as a product by the media, especially on television, is a content that should be debated in Physical Education classes. A government guidance document for teachers “National Curriculum Parameters”, aimed at this area, points out as one of the goals to be achieved by the Physical Education teacher with elementary school students is the critical reading of body models that are transformed into products by the media television. And, if on the one hand the critical reading of body aesthetics transformed into a standard is already a much debated topic in the academic field of Physical Education, on the other hand, this does not mean that the teacher does it in the classroom, an element that justifies the theme here proposed.
Since the Feminist Movement, which had its peak in the 60s, Brazilian women have been part of a very contradictory picture: if on the one hand she wants a professional position and financial independence, on the other, she needs to show herself feminine, docile and, why not, sexy. Sensuality is a key element for women, because it is a manifestation of power over men and even over other women. And this is what brings many, many women to the gym, plastic surgery clinics, beauty salons and looking for miracle diets. In this logic, the body is the focus of sensuality and, probably for that reason, it is also the focus of power.
Watching the samba school parades on television makes our view of carnival very restricted on this type of festivity. There are many other carnival festivities in Brazil that focus much more on fun than capital production and competition. However, this is the type of party that is sold by the television media to Brazil and the world.
In this context, the marketing element for this type of sale is the female body. No wonder, many women participate in the parades, but those who have their image broadcast on television are those who have their body on display. They are women who submit their bodies to intense food deprivation, physical exercise exhausting and almost annual plastic surgeries, so that your body is the focus of attention of the Carnival.
It is good to clarify that nudism is not a discriminatory practice, what is believed to be discriminable is the sale of bodies as a product. It is these bodies that attract tourists that make hotels profit, expensive restaurants and expensive boutiques. I call them bodies and not women, because the body becomes a salable thing, almost dehumanized. The curious thing is that these bodies make little profit.
So, the question becomes logical: what do these bodies gain? At first, the only logical answer would be power. Power in the sense proposed by philosopher Michel Foucault: in which it is about the submission of the other to oneself, and which can present itself in the most intimate interpersonal relationships. In this case, the “most beautiful” body at Carnival wins all the looks, and these looks signify the appreciation of that body. This appreciation, which in this case can be naively called “self-esteem”, results in a feeling of power. A power that disappears as soon as the parade is left, but which serves as a product for the profitability of a tourist system with a dubious ethics.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
By Paula Rondinelli
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Physical Education from the São Paulo State University “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” – UNESP
Master in Motricity Sciences from the São Paulo State University “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” – UNESP
Doctoral Student in Integration of Latin America at the University of São Paulo - USP
PE - Brazil School
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
RONDINELLI, Paula. "Carnival, Bodies and Power"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/educacao-fisica/carnaval-corpos-poder.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
