Swift Boating

The wordplay in the title is somewhat misleading, because this post is coming from a different direction than I had originally intended, due to an item in today’s New York Times.

Xuxa was once Brazil’s biggest TV star. Now many are wondering whether a thin, blond, white woman was the right idol for such a diverse country.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/15/world/americas/brazil-barbie-xuxa.html

Cultural norms of the past are inevitably reconsidered by contemporary standards. Cigarettes were ubiquitous for most of the 20th century. People would ask if it was all right to smoke in social situations, but saying “of course” was a formality. Of course it was all right. For the purpose of this post, whether it’s cigarettes or a standard of beauty that doesn’t reflect the population at large, it’s a matter of personal health and well-being.

“And like Barbie, she became an idol to her fans, who grew up wanting to be just like Xuxa and her all-white cast of teenage dancers, the Paquitas.”

Xuxa is now questioning her own popularity as having been unhealthy for the girls who were her fans. Are Xuxa’s Portuguese and Spanish-speaking fans, who are much older now, as is Xuxa herself, supposed to think it was wrong for them to admire her?

“But in her interview with The New York Times, she assumed more responsibility and lamented the mark it may have left on young viewers who don’t look like her. “God, what trauma I put in the heads of some children,” she said.”

Honestly, you may as well ask the same question of today’s Swifties. Is the effect of tall, blonde, gorgeous Taylor Swift’s massive popularity different in any essential way than Xuxa’s was 30-35 years ago?

The premise of the NYTimes piece begs the question, shouldn’t we be questioning the success of the Barbie movie? Girls are flocking to see it, which is good for long-suffering movie theaters, but is it good for the self-image of girls who aren’t tall, blonde and beautiful, like Margot Robbie?