@ JACK
"A float in a parade with no real context? That's wrong."

I tried to give a very general context in my post above. Care to give the explanation as to there's no real context in Viradouro Samba School's float? Or was it just your assumption?

I thought I could give a bit of general context.

Carnival parades in Rio are a complex matter. Each samba school comes up with a topic and tells a story following a non-linear plot. Each float and group of dancers is supposed to be a chapter of that story, much like Medieval street theatre. Paradoxical images are created in the process: scenes of tortures and massacres are represented by people dancing, just because everything is represented by people dancing. For example, many times events in the history of slavery in Brazil were represented that way -- since samba schools are essencially black culture, telling the history of slavery was a "natural" topic.

Samba schools are then judged in several categories (a bit like the Oscars): music, art direction, plot, etc, and then one is granted the prize of best school that year.

Since the 80s, samba schools don't shy away from controversial, "dark" themes. Violence, poverty, injustice, villains of all kids are always clad in bright, colourful costumes. They always dance -- not dancing is not even allowed by the rules.

I know nothing about the specifics of this case, though.