Translator: David DeRuwe Reviewer: Maurício Kakuei Tanaka
"Consumers don't usually choose black female presenters.
So, well, I think you'd better not go to the audition."
"Well,
the tone of your skin color really isn't commercial.
We're going to choose another actress."
I am a woman,
black, northeast Brazilian.
I've lived for 10 years in São Paulo.
Here, I studied theater arts at the University of São Paulo,
worked as a waitress to support myself,
taught dance and theater classes,
and acted in some theater performances.
Meanwhile, I took part in every audition they called me for.
Some time ago, I realized that when I decided to be an actress,
I put myself into a situation of being many times tested
and sometimes rejected,
be it because customers don't usually choose black female presenters -
a casting producer really said that -
or be it because I'm not the "ideal" type
to portray most female characters in Brazilian audiovisual media.
Want to see an example?
How many movies, TV series, and soap operas produced in Brazil
that you've already seen
have a black actress as the main character?
Better still:
How many film posters
do you remember,
that picture a black actress with thick lips,
a big nose, and kinky hair?
Ten?
Five?
According to IBGE, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics,
black and brown people are 54% of the Brazilian population.
According to the research of the study group GEMAA
from the Rio de Janeiro State University,
black and brown women
are only in 4.4% of Brazilian films
as the main character.
In publicity campaigns,
we are featured in 1%.
Well,
if we are the majority, why don't we have black women in audiovisual media?
By chance, black women don't consume Brazilian audiovisual media?
Because if we do,
we certainly want to identify with ourselves, right?
We want to see ourselves.
What if blacks only attended productions in which they were represented?
Productions with blacks in non-stereotypical roles,
blacks with families?
Better still:
If blacks only consumed products
in which they were represented in publicity campaigns,
how much would these other productions, products, and businesses lose?
Better still:
Are they not already losing?
We are more than 50% of the Brazilian population.
It's a lot, isn't it?
Well,
the fact that we see few black women in Brazilian audiovisual media
symbolizes the devaluation of black women in the audiovisual media market
and in society as a whole.
Yes, I'm here bringing attention to the audiovisual media question,
but we need to recognize
that our society is racist in every field.
Where are the blacks in positions of power in large companies?
In creative teams of advertising agencies?
Lawyers, doctors, judges -
where are they?
I want to ask you another question:
How many black women do you have as colleagues
in your workplaces,
and who occupy positions of power?
Well,
unfortunately, all this invisibility -
the invasions of "candomblé" religious sites
that we've heard about recently, for example -
is all about racism,
and we really need to be uncomfortable with that.
Who is racism good for?
We need to ponder on that.
Is this the Brazil we want?
Businesses can do a lot for gender and racial equity
as it has been proven that diversity gives a competitive advantage.
Putting blacks and women into positions of authority,
having affirmative action,
and sponsoring cultural projects with black women and black people -
all this not only enhances the companies, but also our society as a whole.
Dealing with the perception of this invisibility many times
has increasingly empowered and enhanced me.
Like a typical Capricorn,
if somebody thinks I can't do something,
or doesn't give me the proper opportunity,
it makes me want to work harder
until I get it.
Dealing with the rejections makes me want to do better,
to be featured in better roles,
and to change this situation into a very positive thing in my life.
At the end of the day,
not only did I choose,
but I decided to be an actress and now also an executive producer,
and to be at the top of the social pyramid.
Indeed, this pyramid thing takes me to a phrase that I like very much
and that I would like to share with you.
"When a black woman moves,
the whole social structure moves with her
because everything is destabilized all the way from the social pyramid base,
where black women are found,
because it changes the base of capitalism."
When I started to move at the base of the pyramid,
I began to realize that the best North American actors,
blacks and women,
produce.
They're the executive producers of their films and series.
They feature in and even create their own stories.
It was then I also realized that Brazilian audiovisual media -
primarily white and male in the positions of greatest power -
needed me not only as an actress,
but also needed my point of view
and the point of view of black women like me
for new stories,
new protagonists,
and new productions.
And moved by a sense of purpose,
today, besides acting with much respect in other directors' productions,
I have my own video producer to create new stories.
And my sources of inspiration
are these images:
images from films and TV series, produced in the United States -
with empowerment, featuring blacks and women -
which are amply commercial.
Everything just depends on the point of view.
I want to create stories with black women like me -
wide nose, kinky hair, thick lips -
which are entertaining, emotional,
and amply commercial,
since everything just depends on the point of view.
Society is just beginning to realize
that we are moving
from an era of idealization -
widespread through advertising
and which exploits a pattern of predefined "aesthetic" beauty -
to an era of identification
where if we don't see ourselves, we don't consume.
By the way, this concept has been in vogue in the United States
for a long time.
I have another phrase I would like to share with you.
This phrase is from Shonda Rhimes.
If you're not aware,
she's one of the biggest creators of audiovisual media in the United States.
It goes more or less like this,
"I hate so much the word 'diversity.'
It suggests something special,
rare,
diverse,
as if it were uncommon to create stories with women and people of color.
I have a different word,
'normalize.'
I'm 'normalizing' television
because I'm making television appear more like the real world.
We're more than 50%.
This means we're not just an insignificant thing."
I have a dream.
I dream of a Brazil that breaks old structures of privilege,
old paradigms, stereotypes,
and myths like racial democracy.
How about you?
Let's dream and make it happen together?
Thank you.
(Applause)
(Cheers)
Thank you.
(Applause)