Stages: Blanka

Note: the title should be read as a parody of David Bowie's "Changes" (i.e Staaa aages)

Stages now takes us to Brazil, the only place (besides Boston) where green monsters are not only accepted but downright beloved. There really is no reason for Blanka to be from Brazil: he doesnt fit the stereotypes of the time (soccer players and carnaval) nor does he speak Portuguese or belong to one of the very specific social classes.

So what makes him Brazilian? well nothing, the story is that he was in a plane crash and separated by his mother as a boy. Apparently he was lily white (hence the name) but became green with time. He only fights in Brazil because originally he was to be a sorta black slave character, the design later evolved into a freaky green man.

Now onto the stage. Its a basic "jungle" setting with varied flora, fauna and various people cheering on the fighters. This could be anywhere really, there is nothing that specifically says "Brazil", there is no soccer, no favelas, no racial inequalities (though you can still sorta see some in the stage), no Seu Jorge to be found anywhere. Much of this can be explained away when we realize that the world wasn't as globalized in 1989 as it is now, there was no internet, City of God had not been made yet.

Instead of this being the Brazil stage, then, it simply becomes the nondescript Latin American third world stage. Blanka could have easily been from Colombia, Peru, Mexico and the same stage (with minor tweaks) could be used. It can be reasonably argued that the stage is set in the Amazon (a possible synonym for Brazil in the late 80's) but it could easily be any other river in Latin America so even if it is meant to be the Amazon it still feels like a cop out, especially since Brazil is such a visual country.

With time Street Fighter added at least one other Brazilian fighter that did not fight in the jungle while the Street Fighter IV stage for Blanka though is still very much influenced by the original. Given that Blanka is a feral beast I suppose we can give Capcom a pass for the jungle stage, if anything Blanka was not the Brazilian fighter in SF2 but rather the beastly one, he filled a required trope just as Honda was the burly one and Chun-Li the girl. The stage is simply another way in which Blanka fills that role.

Had the character been a soccer player, a plantation owner or Lula da Silva odds are he would not be fighting in the jungle, but instead in some other Brazilian landmark. The problem is that in 2009, after the character became iconic and beloved, it was time to move him somewhere else and they simply failed at that.