LAUSR

Miranda’s image, both during her career, by the likes of Mickey Rooney, Curly of the Three Stooges and Bob Hope, and after her early death, in cartoons and by figures such as Carol Burnett. Because Miranda built a successful fashion empire around her famous headdresses and wedge heels, marketing exotic fashion to the American masses, it was easy for others to give stylized Miranda performances. This chapter’s survey is meant to show readers how Miranda’s image resists gender norms through its excessive stylization, but such an argument is overshadowed by the enumeration of the many drag/camp performances of Miranda. Creating Carmen Miranda excels at situating Miranda’s stardom in its Brazilian context. When Bishop-Sanchez discusses camp and Miranda’s film performances, however, the argument becomes muddled in lengthy, detailed descriptions. Nevertheless, these descriptions provide a useful starting point for future work on the camp aspects of Miranda’s star image.