Abstract

OROZCO-ESPINEL, Paula. Carmen Miranda in Hollywood (1939-1945): In the Middle of the Screen, on the Edge of History. Palabra Clave [online]. 2019, vol.22, n.4, e2248. ISSN 0122-8285.  https://doi.org/10.5294/pacla.2019.22.4.8.

In this article, I analyze the character that Carmen Miranda -a famous actress and singer still remembered today as the Brazilian bombshell- performed between 1939 and 1945. I intend to explore how her presence on the screen accounts for American desires and fears, associated in part with World War II, but especially in relation to race and gender imaginaries. For this, I examine the musical comedies in which the actress appeared and focus on her role in narratives. I note that, while the characters performed by Miranda are central in musicals acts, they appear little on the scene for the rest of the films and do not carry out actions that contribute to the plot. I also show that Miranda did not meet the hemispheric integration standards proposed by the Office of Inter-American Affairs -US government agency created to strengthen inter-American cooperation during the war- as she perpetuated negative stereotypes of Latin America. Accordingly, I maintain that her role was to attract and please the American public. She made use of her ability to be funny and sexy at the same time, which, I contend, derived from her place in the racial hierarchy of the time. My paper is novel as it takes for granted some aspects to which attention has already been drawn, such as Carmen Miranda’s costumes and accent, and centers on the narrative of her films, unexplored so far.

Keywords : Carmen Miranda; representation; Latin American women; good neighbor policy; Hollywood; musical comedy; North American history; history of cinema; cinema; stereotypes.

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