Posted on 09/10/2013 3:42:39 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Brazil's latest funk sensation, Anitta, has won millions of fans by taking the favela sound into the mainstream, but she is now front and centre in a resurgent debate about skin colour.
Anti-discrimination campaigners and social commentators say the music industry's fastest rising star has had to sacrifice her blackness to make it into the predominantly white middle-class market.
The controversy was prompted by the publication of then-and-now photographs that show a dramatic lightening of Anitta's skin tone since she signed a deal with Warner.
In the first, when she was relatively unknown, she looked darker. In the second – a marketing shot after she became famous – she seems paler. Whether this was the result of whitening products and cosmetic surgery or – more likely – Photoshop tweaks, the contrast has rekindled discussion about whether you need to be pale to get ahead in Brazil.
Jarid Arraes, a psychology student and blogger, wrote a post decrying the latent discrimination in media and marketing that she felt Anitta's image change represented. "People refuse to accept that they are racist and they think they live in a multiracial democracy, but the statistics show that is far from the case. The whitening shows us a profoundly intolerant society that doesn't support diversity … white is the image of the rich, the nice, the successful, the good, while people see black as the opposite of all that."
Born Larissa de Macedo Machado, the diva-to-be was a church chorister in her childhood.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
She’s still darker than Ben Jealous.
I wish to observe that: 1.)The young ladies innocence is clearly depicted in both photographs. 2.) I was greatly sadden that the link labeled “curvaceous, but shaking dancer and singer” failed open properly.
It looks to me like the first shot is color skewed. It probably was taken using incandescent lighting which skews the colors towards yellow/red.
Yes, exactly right.
Wow. What a difference.
And tanning shows.....?
still looking creepier than ever
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.