And the "Most Tasteful Float at Rio Carnival" award goes to....
Feb 4th 2008, 2:59 am
#1
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And the "Most Tasteful Float at Rio Carnival" award goes to....
Dancing Hitler, Holocaust Float Shocks Even Over-the-Top Rio
By Adriana Brasileiro
Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Even Rio de Janeiro has its limits.
Rio state, whose annual Carnival celebrations regularly include half-naked women and over-the-top parties, banned a samba group from entering a holocaust-inspired float in the city's championship this year. The float, with a pile of atrophied concentration-camp victims at its base, was to be accompanied by a dancer dressed as Adolf Hitler.
``The idea of a dancing Hitler on top of dead Jews is outrageous,'' said Jose Roitberg, a spokesman for Rio de Janeiro's Israelite Federation, which represents Jewish interests and sued to have the float thrown out.
During the five-day event, which started Feb. 1, Rio's top 12 samba groups, known as schools, each present an 80-minute parade featuring hundreds of drummers and as many as 5,000 dancers. The group's theme is reflected in its songs, elaborate costumes and floats.
The holocaust float was part of samba group Viradouro's ``It Gives You Goose Bumps'' show, which portrays events, movies and characters that make people shiver, according to the school's Web site.
``It's about all the wonderful and terrible things that make your hair stand on end,'' said Lucia dos Santos, who is in charge of Viradouro dancers dressing as monsters from the movie ``Alien.''
Other floats depict vultures and rats, kissing and tongues, and characters from horror movies such as Chucky from ``Child's Play,'' she said.
Anti-Nazi Law
Viradouro lost in court on Jan. 31, as Judge Juliana Kalichszteim of the Tribunal of Justice of Rio de Janeiro cited a federal law against Nazi propaganda and racism.
The judge warned that if the school included the float in its parade today, it would be fined 200,000 reais ($115,000) plus 50,000 reais for each dancer dressed as Hitler.
Viradouro destroyed the float, spokeswoman Eliane Lorca said. It didn't accept the court decision without protest.
``The restriction to freedom of expression creates a fertile territory for the proliferation of violence, disrespect, brutality and extermination,'' Viradouro said in a statement on its Web site. ``Neither the executioners nor the victims of the tragic history of humanity have the right to hide the facts and dim our memory.''
The 12 samba schools will spend about 50 million reais this year, according to Rio's Samba Schools' Association. As many as 140,000 spectators will watch the carnival parades from towering bleachers and private boxes on either side, according to the city.
Christ and Gun
Viradouro isn't the first samba school to push the limits of good taste and lose. Beija-Flor, one of Rio's largest schools, was forced in 2003 to yank a statue of Christ armed with an automatic weapon from its show about drug-related violence.
``We are used to being shocked by samba schools and their crazy designer -- we even expect that year after year,'' said Dora Bernardes, a jewelry store owner from Brazil's Minas Gerais state who has traveled to Rio every Carnival for 10 years. ``But Hitler is just not funny -- not here in Rio, not anywhere.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Adriana Brasileiro in Rio de Janeiro at [email protected]
By Adriana Brasileiro
Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Even Rio de Janeiro has its limits.
Rio state, whose annual Carnival celebrations regularly include half-naked women and over-the-top parties, banned a samba group from entering a holocaust-inspired float in the city's championship this year. The float, with a pile of atrophied concentration-camp victims at its base, was to be accompanied by a dancer dressed as Adolf Hitler.
``The idea of a dancing Hitler on top of dead Jews is outrageous,'' said Jose Roitberg, a spokesman for Rio de Janeiro's Israelite Federation, which represents Jewish interests and sued to have the float thrown out.
During the five-day event, which started Feb. 1, Rio's top 12 samba groups, known as schools, each present an 80-minute parade featuring hundreds of drummers and as many as 5,000 dancers. The group's theme is reflected in its songs, elaborate costumes and floats.
The holocaust float was part of samba group Viradouro's ``It Gives You Goose Bumps'' show, which portrays events, movies and characters that make people shiver, according to the school's Web site.
``It's about all the wonderful and terrible things that make your hair stand on end,'' said Lucia dos Santos, who is in charge of Viradouro dancers dressing as monsters from the movie ``Alien.''
Other floats depict vultures and rats, kissing and tongues, and characters from horror movies such as Chucky from ``Child's Play,'' she said.
Anti-Nazi Law
Viradouro lost in court on Jan. 31, as Judge Juliana Kalichszteim of the Tribunal of Justice of Rio de Janeiro cited a federal law against Nazi propaganda and racism.
The judge warned that if the school included the float in its parade today, it would be fined 200,000 reais ($115,000) plus 50,000 reais for each dancer dressed as Hitler.
Viradouro destroyed the float, spokeswoman Eliane Lorca said. It didn't accept the court decision without protest.
``The restriction to freedom of expression creates a fertile territory for the proliferation of violence, disrespect, brutality and extermination,'' Viradouro said in a statement on its Web site. ``Neither the executioners nor the victims of the tragic history of humanity have the right to hide the facts and dim our memory.''
The 12 samba schools will spend about 50 million reais this year, according to Rio's Samba Schools' Association. As many as 140,000 spectators will watch the carnival parades from towering bleachers and private boxes on either side, according to the city.
Christ and Gun
Viradouro isn't the first samba school to push the limits of good taste and lose. Beija-Flor, one of Rio's largest schools, was forced in 2003 to yank a statue of Christ armed with an automatic weapon from its show about drug-related violence.
``We are used to being shocked by samba schools and their crazy designer -- we even expect that year after year,'' said Dora Bernardes, a jewelry store owner from Brazil's Minas Gerais state who has traveled to Rio every Carnival for 10 years. ``But Hitler is just not funny -- not here in Rio, not anywhere.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Adriana Brasileiro in Rio de Janeiro at [email protected]
Last edited by The Dean; Feb 4th 2008 at 3:00 am. Reason: needed
Feb 4th 2008, 5:03 pm
#2
**** it we'll do it live
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: Dubai
Posts: 7,892
Re: And the "Most Tasteful Float at Rio Carnival" award goes to....
WTF thats some inspired thinking there. surely someone at some point said this is a bloody stupid idea????
Feb 4th 2008, 7:49 pm
#3
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 5,786
Re: And the "Most Tasteful Float at Rio Carnival" award goes to....
It sounds like a scene from a Borat film!
