Outrage Over Model’s Post-Sandy Photo Shoot in Wreckage
Here's one way to get noticed: After Hurricane Sandy left New York City in utter chaos, a former Brazilian Playboy model used the devastation as a backdrop for a series of glamour shots, enraging many people in the process.
In a long-sleeved black top, leggings, and black ankle boots, Nana Gouvêa can be seen striking a dramatic wide-legged pose -- think Angelina Jolie at the Oscars -- in front of a gigantic toppled tree and a stranded moving truck. In another image, Gouvêa uses broken branches to balance herself on the hood of a smashed silver BMW.
The photo shoot was posted to the website ego.globo.com and quickly went viral. Social media reaction was uniformly critical. One Twitter user called it "the weirdest photo shoot ever," while another wrote in Portuguese that she had "shamed Brazil."
[Related: Hurricane Sandy is 2012's Number 2 Topic on Facebook]
Gouvêa also instantly became a meme. Images of her modelizing were set against the sinking of the Titanic, the Sept. 11 destruction, even the Pulitzer Prize-winning AP photo of Vietnamese children running down the street after a napalm attack. A Facebook page called "Nana Gouvea in Disasters," which posted many of the memes, already has more than 3,000 likes.
Gawker used Gouvêa's photos as instructional tips for posing successfully amidst a natural disaster. Tip 1, titled "Destroyed Though It May Be, the World Is Your Prop," advises readers, "Walk around your neighborhood to find an image of gross devastation. Position yourself within it alluringly."
In an interview with Ego, Gouvêa explained that she'd been stuck in her New York apartment with her music-producer husband and found the hurricane "romantic."
[Related: Hurricane Sandy Rodent Report]
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