Collor beyond the ink: colorism and racial disputes in the cartoon Clube da Anittinha

Abstract

This paper aims at reflecting on the complexity of racial debates in Clube da Anittinha (2018), a Brazilian children’s cartoon, and its relation to the idea of colorism. For this discussion, we focus on Brazilian national identity, constructed by the notion of racial democracy (Freyre, 2006). So, we propose a critical trajectory around this concept, based on socially pacified prejudices through aesthetic and social factors in the Brazilian context (SOUZA, 1983). There is a tendency within children's animations to include racial debates only through the skin tones used in the characters' composition. In addition to the idea of difference, these factors are narrative strategies that neutralize discussions and perpetuate stigm regarding race. Based on that, the text presents an analysis focused on the composition of color, hair, and the relationships that emerge in the animation and points to a series of erasures and the practice of superficial representativeness in animated cartoons.

Keywords
colorism; cartoon; racial disputes; Clube da Anittinha