Brazilian Soap Opera Criticism

Of the more than 600 entries I've posted, one of my personal favorites is the one about Brazilian soap operas. Today a Brit by the name of Greg Dixon posted a lengthy contrary view in the comment section, and it was interesting enough that I thought I would share it in today's entry. I won't bother to debate it, since I agree with most of what he says, just not his conclusion. I also have to wonder if Greg has ever had the misfortune of viewing an American soap opera.

To EVERYONE!

You are all either mad or Brazilian! Novelas are absolute rubbish!! I'm from the UK and I have lived in Sao Paulo, Brasil for the past 6 months, and daily have to put up with these OVER-melodramatic episodes of cheesy shite!

Novelas are the spoon-fed media to give hope to Brazilians that they may one day live in Rio and have a house that is furnished properly! If there wasn't so much wrong with the Novelas I would be able to stomach it. But what has lead me to this website is an argument with my (brazilian) girlfriend about the Novelas, so that's it!

Where shall I start!?! Well, firstly the acting is so over the top! Yes they may well feature Brasil's finest screen actors, but every litle thing is exagerated to comic proportions! Someone looks at another person - (long still shot)...(pause)..(words said)...(pause for effect)...(pensive look on face)...(pause)...(response)...(cue music)...Oh my God! IT's so painful! And the amount of times I've watched someone cry and really 'milk it' is just too many to mention!

Second the 'dodgy camera-work' with stupid zoom effect shots (to increase the drama), crap editing, more silly effects, Flashback FX with plenty of Echo, strange angles, shots which start on a random ornament, you name it and it's there! Today I watched one which had 5 minutes of two women having a conversation. One is close to looking diagonally towards the camera, the other woman is behind her, and (very) out of focus, with a second camera cutting to her dialogue. I thought why doesn't the first woman turn around and speak to her face? Why? - cos after questioning and laughing at this for 5 mins, the full shot is revealed and the 1st woman was looking at the other in a mirror! Oh NICE ONE!! So well executed HA!

Thirdly, Most Novelas have crappy cheesy incidental music which gets worse in an action or dramatic scene. Which to me is very strange because the UK soaps don't have music during the episodes - why, because they are supposed to be imitating 'real' life with 'real' people! They are not dramas or feature films, and don't pretend to be! Another thing which is a favourite trick of the makers of the Novelas is to have one 'signature' song which plays every time a certain character is on-screen! Man are the audience so dumb they need this! that they need this drilled into there brains! You see, then the song becomes popular here too..ah it's too easy! The creators must be laughing all the way to the bank!

What can I say, most Brazilians are numb to everything from the melodrama to the dodgy FX and music. I think it's because everything is loud, garish, fast or dramatic here so the TV thinks right, bright colours, lots of movement, fast cuts, keep it busy so not to lose the punter for one second! However, there is no telling them that they are watching rubbish!.. My GF won't have any of it! Mainly she argues that all the actors are good, and the shows are exported around the world. Well, not to the UK for one! and maybe places like Spain and Portugal just have shitty TV anyway! And what else are the Portuguese speaking Brazilian actors going to do? Go to Portugal? Ha! I don't think so! They stay where the money is on the main channel - Globo. It 's never changing programming being Novelas, News, Novelas, Novelas, Dubbed Film every day!

The public here are totally under he influence of Globo (the major TV company) and will suck on whatever is fed to them...so another period Novela Senhor? Oh yes please! Well Art imitates Life, and Life imitates Art, because if the Novelas are supposed to be a reproduction of Brazilian life, then it is a highly dramatised one, thus making many people react the same as in a Novela! - honestly the family dramas explode here! There should be a couple of Oscars for over-acting awarded!

But there is no way out, because Novelas rule the TV - they are on almost every evening, all evening! Even in the day there are re-runs! Which, although people have seen, they still watch and cry the same as the first time! No re-run? Well how about the 'making of a Novela'? or, maybe a star or a Novela giving their thoughts on some random topic perhaps! Jesus! there really is no escape!

Don't get me wrong, I have an open mind, and am trying to like the Novelas for the harmony of my relationship! But, they are just TOO BAD! Oh, and before everyone here goes crazy too, I would ike to say that although I don't call myself an expert, I have had 6 months watching experience and I have a degree in 'Sound & Image Design' which included Film Studies and Cultural Theory so I would hope I know a bit about what I'm talking about! However, any responses welcome :) In fact, bring it on!

Comments

[Tim]

"...the misfortune of viewing an American soap opera."

Obviously you have never watched General Hospital. Pish.

[Tvindy]

The last time I watched General Hospital was years and years ago. Back then, the main storyline revolved around some evil genius who built a life-size robot that I think entertained people in the lobby. Unbeknownst to the main characters, he had also created one in the likeness of some woman and programmed it to murder someone, thereby framing her.

[Tim]

Priceless!

[Teka]

Mm. Aren't we bitter. I have a Mexican telenovela on for background right now.

[Nick]

Okay... Let me just take a breath! SHUT THE FUCK UP, STEAK YOUR TONGUE IN YOUR ASS AND JUST SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT FUCKING UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, now I can talk! Firs of all, may be the fact that no body in the world watches your stupid UK novelas, but Brazilian novelas including USA,will prove something to you! Brazilian soap operas are fast moving yes!!! But that's the point. The camera tricks are to keep everything look interesting, that's the point to!!! If i'm gonna come back from work and just take a break infront of a TV, i want to watch something that will take my mind off the reality fast! American soaps don't do that! Also, Brazilian soaps teach something, each have a lesson about life. You just fuck off!

[Tvindy]

Well, I dont think "steak" can be used as a verb. It's just something that people with the misfortune of not being vegetarian sometimes eat.

[Nick]

well, I was just mad to see such an opinnion. I mean, it's not that it's wrong to express yourself, but the thing is that any American reading this and not seeing Brazilian soaps for themselves will think of them wrong! That's why these kind of critics are just not right! Without any prove, it's wrong to critisize something!

Let me tell you about Brazilian soaps! I've watched them all my life, sinse i was ten! Through brazilian soaps i've learned about Brazils culture, its nature, cities, people, songs, music, cloth, etc, etc... Their soaps are not just about tears and arguments, THAT WAS A LIE!!!!!!!!! Obsolute LIE! Their soaps are about real people's lives, and how to improve them! Their soaps touch such topics as RELIGION, NATURE, GENDER, SEX, RACISM, MUSIC, ART, DANCING, CARNIVALS, POOR, RICH, FROM FISHER MEN TO SENATES AND SO ON. Their STORIES ARE RICH, seem real, NO AMERICAN STYLE SUCH AS "I DIED BUT I CAME ALIVE TWO MONTHS LATER" STUFF, OR "I'M ONLY 20, BUT I HAVE A 15 YEARS OLD DAUGHTER" CRAP. Anyway, I also like Brazilian soaps cuz the film lots of outdoors. YOU CAN ACTUALLY VISUALIZE BRAZIL through their soaps! They give hope to people, they call upon peace, love, unity, compassion, and so on. Brazilian soaps are also VERY COLORFUL and VERY FAST MOVING. There isnt going to be an episode that one misses and does not regret later on. IF YOU'VE MISSED AN EPISODE, YOU MIGHT GET CUT UP IN MISSING SOME PLOTS.

AS OF THE SOUNDRACKS PLAYING FOR EACH CHARACTER, I JUST LOVE IT!!!! Everytime a cirtain song starts playing, I already know next scene will be about cirtain character. You get so attached to these characters, that even after the soap is over, every time you listen to their songs, you remember of the characters, their actions, their stories... It's lovely! You just have to expiriance it to fall in love with it. Brazilian soaps only last for 9 months each. But that's the beauty of it! You can watch a soap following its story everyday, like reading a book! In fact, all Brazilian soaps are written by writers as novels. First they were published in news papers, then on radios, and now on TVs! Brazilian actors are outstanding!!! REAL!!!! ALIVE!!!! Stories will capture your heart forever. You will come back to watch soaps over and over. Each with different story style, actors, music, depending on who writes them. There are some people who only like sirtain writers and only watch their soaps. I love all of them! I love brazil. Also, it is not true that Brazilian soaps only show the good side of Brazil. Through Brazilian soaps i've learned the low economy problems, politics, poor people's lives, their suffering. And that only made me love Brazil even more!!! So how can you not like Brazilian soaps when they are pure reflection of the country itself? To not like Brazilian Soaps is to not like Brazil! Even guys watch soaps in Brazil! And i'm not saying some, all who have time do!!! It's not a question of gender, it's a quastion of culter in brazil!!!! Good luck...

[Carmen Naidoo]

Well I am not sure whether Greg still reads these boards or whether he still feels the same way about Brazilian soapies but I feel I need to comment here too.
Although I have posted a reply to Greg's post in the original thread I just wish to make a few more comments which I think are important;

Firstly upon reading Greg's post for the third time, I noticed that he assumes that all soaps "are supposed to be imitating 'real' life with 'real' people! They are not dramas or feature films, and don't pretend to be!"
Why?
Because this is the formula that the British follow?
This is extremely arrogant because it's as if he is saying that only if a soap follows this formula then it is a good one!

Yes, this 'real life'formula has worked for the British public because british people tend to be obsessed with reality based programmes. Switch on the telly at any time and you will find some sort of reality tv show. From the favourites like Big Brother to things like Celebrity Detox Camp. Yes, I kid you not. A show was made using D list celebs and then filming them for 2 weeks or so whilst they went on a detox diet! Stunning television! Not.
However there are some (a large percentage of the British population) who enjoy these sorts of programmes. And who am I to judge? I just switch it off when I see it on the tele. However there will often be times when NOTHING suits my fancy and hence I'll rather read a book.
Now what I am getting at is that to say that soaps should essentially be based on real life is just downright ignorant and arrogant.

As I said in my earlier post, I am South African and in SA we have a formula for our soaps whereby 50% is real and the other 50% is more glamourous and fictional.
In the US they tend to follow the glamour/fiction route whereas in the UK they show grim reality. To each his own I say.

Another thing that Greg pointed out is that his g/f proudly claimed that the Brazilian soaps get exported around the world and that they have a wide following.
He then says that they are not found in the UK for one.....perhaps because it is not in English!!?? Also you can get it on cable if you want.
And I've never heard of Emmerdale or Eastenders leaving British shores ever? However the British have been buying the Australian soaps like Neighbours and Home and Away for years!!! Looks like British soapies aint so great after all eh?

In conclusion, and it's the same conclusion I made earlier.....everyone likes different things and some people enjoy the escapism that tv provides whilst others enjoy seeing harsh reality portrayed in fictional circumstances.
Why criticise? If you don't like it don't watch it!

[natasha]

just one thing..have u seen mexican soap operas? ok..watch them then we can talk ;)
oh!and british movies are so bad that i can't even try to watch them...:)))

[John Peter]

u don't kno nothin' bout soap operas, have u watched others than brazilian ones? why do u think ours are exported to the whole world (not only portugal and spain :P)? cuz they are good!

[rebecca]

hi i am a drama teacher and was looking on the web for information about brazilan soap operas for an inculsive learning show and just wanted to say that some of the information i have read concerning the stylation of this form has been extemly usfull and im sure will benit me when planning . But that ultemently british soaps are not anywear near reality the closest you would get to reality on british tv would be the royal family comedy series were nothing really happens . oh and sunset beach was fanatasic . plese forgive spelling dylesic and no spell check on here .

[Iza]

All I have to say is Brazilian novelas kicks American and Mexican soaps any time!
Hey some of the Chinese and Korean ones are good, but nothing compares to the Brazilian ones. My favorite so far has been "Anita" and "Mujeres apasionadas". Anita is by far is the most unique novela I have ever watched..... OK you guys can go on with your arguing now....Im done....FINITO!

[Tvindy]

lol, "Mujeres apasionadas" isn't even a Portuguese title.

[Teka]

My. To open up yet another can of worms, what do people think about the great Vanishing Kiss scandal of the last episode of _América_? This may be the first instance I can think of where a kiss between gay characters was more controversial for its absence than for its presence.

[Tvindy]

Teka, how are you watching Brazilian novelas?

[iza]

No shit it isnt in portuguese..hmm maybe cause they translated it to spanish here in Cali......gah!!!

[Teka]

Unfortunately, I don't get the chance to actually watch novelas, but since I'm interested in both gay and Brazilian culture, I'd have to be seriously out of it to have missed *that* particular controversy.

82% viewership for that episode!

[Ana]

I am mexican and I have watched mexican novelas all my life and I think they are great, but when I saw brazilian novelas I just fell in loved with them. I got to admit they are fresh and deep they are just wonderful. If you don't like them then you don't know what good tv is.

[Dani]

O.K, I will admit that in the last 7 or more years Mexican Soaps have taken a turn for the worst. But really, what an unfair and unsubstantiated statement; the implication that Brazilian Soaps are better than Mexican Soaps. More than a few Brazilian Soaps have been as ridiculous or even more so than Mexican Soaps. Let us not forget the 90's Soap titled "O Rei Do Gado" (King of Livestock?). Now, this may be a biased statement, but I've yet to see a Novela Brasileira as dynamic and intriguing as the greatest Mexican Novela of all time; ala "Cuna de Lobos"(Crib of Wolves), and that soap was made back in 1986. Considering the technological constraints of the time, Ernesto Alonso truly created some aweinspiring work during the 80's; not to mention "El Maleficio!" If anything, Mexican Soap Operas have worstened in recent years, because of their having followed the Brasilian format. I'm tired of it, poor dialogues, tired stories and plots. Unbearable sequences of the victimized protagonist who finds the need to cry ad nauseum. It seems that these days in Mexican Soaps the status quo seems to be that the more skin that can be shown on screen, and the more 'plastic' the characters, the better a novela is supposed to be! I am currently mostly viewing Korean and Chinese Soap Operas, which seem to show a greater depth of story and contain plausible circumstances that I can more easily identify with. Now when it comes to historical drama, Western Soaps just can't compare to ones based during the Tsung or Jo Son Dynasties! By the way, I do concur that U.S soaps are by far the worst; however, I do appreciate the dark ambience of "General Hospital."

[Tvindy]

"O Rei do Gado" was kind of a silly title but definitely not as bad as "A Rainha da Sucata" (Queen of Scrap Metal).

[tanya]

Dear Tindy,

Did you manage to get a "Dona Beija" telenovella on DVD? If yes, please advise me where! I've been looking for it for ages!
Thanks you!

[marianne]

“O Rei do Gado” I don’t think it is a silly title at all, in a Brazilian/Portuguese Language Perspective. More than not translations suffer from one language to another and some things translated word by word make no sense at all if you don’t catch the meaning of it.
In this case it is more in the sense of a very rich Rancher if not the richest, who got the biggest Ranch around and there is a man here called by this in reality. Like the King of the Rodeo for example, why, because he is the best.

Albeit TV Globo has the monopole in Novelas “Soap Operas” there are about two other channels here in Brazil who got their own Novelas to show. In the beginning they were the worst you could imagine but got now very nice stories and are par to the Globo ones.
At the TV Globo the reruns are of Novelas which were usually truly loved by the people here and as they say here “Vale a pena ver denovo” [Worthwhile to see again]. They are old ones or from two or more years ago. They air at 14:30 from Monday through Friday. After that there is an afternoon movie on.
At 17:30 as well from Monday through Friday is a never-ending Novela called “Malhação” for the Youth and teenagers but also for adults. It handles about a Preparing school before you go to University or something like that. It handles about this young men[boys] and women[girls] before adulthood and beyond as there is also the teachers and their families involved in this High School setting. The teachers and students etc. change from season to season some remain others go on. All you can imagine happens from love to treachery, human strength to weaknesses and so on. There is a base for all from Comedy to drama and tragedy in their lives and why not also sometimes to the hilarious. Well, in the last season you got even an insight of Leukemia.
For me it seems more like a step for young actors to show what they are worth, acting out all they got and learn how to act. There are truly some treasure under them, when they leave this Novela they usually show up in the other ones, or old actors and well known ones show up for some episodes or a season. Even Maitee Proença was once there as a teacher.
Well, for young new actors it is indeed a feast and for the public as well to see this new treasures in their first acting.

At 18:00 From Monday through Saturday are the Novelas on. Usually at this time, the novellas are historic, 1500th to 1800th from Brazilian’s Past. But there are also from the 2000th to our 21st. So not all are historic, just sometimes.

In the moment there is one called “O Profeta” [The Prophet] of a boy then young man who has the power to see visions and seems to be in the 1950th and 1960th .

The one after that the so called 7:00pm Novela is more of the humoristic kind bordering to hilarious and the ridicule, but not all the time and not all of them are those kind just usually, there were a lot of dramas and some balancing between parts of humoristic details and other parts of the more serious kind to excellent.
In the moment is one on called “Pé na Jaca” and is of the hilarious ridicule kind Comedy. So you laugh a lot.
After the news there is finally the 8:00pm novella although I do not understand why they call it that because frankly it begins at 21:00 mostly.
Now they are in the last weeks in this one and the Novela is called “Páginas da Vida”[ Pages of Life]. It is a serious one with good acting handling about well, you can’t tell all as in reality it shows life of many characters in diverse social positions from rich to poor and middle life. One part is of a doctor who was the doctor and she was attending a young pregnant woman, from whom they knew no name and she gave birth to twins. A boy and a girl, and after seeing them the young woman died as she had an accident, a car ran her over and she was brought to that Mercy Hospital. After a lot asking around they found her mother. Here you can see a real monster of a mother and grandmother with biting words because of her the young mother ran into the streets frantic and crying and the car ran her over. In this one you learn about children of the Down Syndrome as the little baby girl has the syndrome and is totally rejected by the Grandmother and she does tell her husband who is because of a heart attach at the hospital and her son that the girl has died and reluctantly she takes the little boy home, but who cares for him is the very gentle grandfather and young uncle.
The mother of the kids who died appears as a apparition to some as she really wants that the twins grow up together and the drama goes on. The doctor falls in love with the little girl and adopts her, she had already an adopted African-Brazilian boy, now a man.
So the stories go on. One part has of a very rich Patriarch whose wife passed away still in the beginning of the Novel and he got a lot of children, all grown-up and just loves to have them all around him. Tarcicio Meira acts as the Patriarch and his real wife played his wife. He is one of the icons of Brazilian actors and I think a first role as not the Center of the Novela but as a Father and Grandfather, and that man sure has still a charisma you would not believe. His real son Tarcicio Filho ( a real look-alike to his father) played although in the mentioned Mini Novel called A Casa das Sete Mulheres. [House of the seven women].

About 22:00 or at 24:00 hours [the schedule varies] there are about twice a year or more or less some Novelas 5 days a week from Tuesday to Friday but they are Mini Series as they got from 8 to 20 or the most 50 episodes to tell the story. In the Moment there is one on which is going to be in three parts telling the story of Amazonia and called that, from a state there called Acre. Historic was from the first Governor, then something from later one, it still in the Governor Part and the last part of the 50 episodes in all about the time and life of the assassinated Humanitarian Jorge Mendes. As said instead as called Mini-Novelas they are called Mini-Series. The House of the seven Women was a Mini-Serie.
Now from this Mini-Series the TV-Globo Group got out now their DVDs which can be purchased in many stores and Shoppings etc. even online.
www.lojasamericanas.com.br and www.extra.com.br got them in stock I think.
I don’t know if they are at Amazon.com as well or not, but it could be.
A Casa das sete Mulheres got five DVDs in over 18 hours.

As said by some here, the views are from Brazilian country side in reality and streets of the great cities and smaller ones and not from built cities for cinema.

Well, I am a Swiss-Brazilian, born in Switzerland and grew up there and live now for over 25 years in Brazil and have lived and moved around a lot. The Brazilian Novelas are colorful and lively because the Brazilian are this way. I have seen rich and poor and the middle line, even gone to some Favelas[Ghettos] and how funny that even there I see Parabolic Antennas.
What I learnt is also that people abroad got some stereotype images from Brazil like the people. Let me tell you they are colorful as well in a delightful mixture or not. European in general likes to African likes and Asiatic and their mixtures of races or by its pure many with Indios.
Many pen-friends asked me what the heck I am doing moving to a country where there are only dark-skinned people and so on, and selvage Indios and Cannibals. I kid you not.
Makes me really wonder who the cultured civilized people are. Sometimes they know about Pele, The King of Football[Soccer] and as he is an African-Brazilian they think all the people here are alike. Well, here you can get all races in one country and city. There is even a country-side city with Albinos in the State of São Paulo. Saw some around here too. I live in a harbor-beach city called Santos – SP in the moment. I love this country, my father a Swiss loved it too, my Mom is Brazilian who lived for 22 years in Switzerland, but after the 22 years we moved to Brazil.

[Shaun]

If City oF Men is considered a novela, than I would call myself a fan. I am not aware of any other Brazilian TV shows which air in the US, anybody?

[marianne]

City oF Men would be considered not a novela but a TV-Series aka TV-Show as the stories are finished episodes/stories and not an ongoing story like a novela as in a chapter of a book.
I think you can see it as if a Novela is one giant book with many chapters to tell the story.
A Series is one or two episodes to tell a story by themselves, and the next episode tells another story albeith they can be a continuing view of the same characters in diverse situations.
Would be interesting to know if they air other Brazilian Novelas or TV-Shows around the World.
What I know is that since Rede Globo is for some years now on Cable aviable, called [Globo SAT] but it seems as I recall my sister telling me that it is an expensive Channel to have signed up to.

[Lely]

It's funny that I comment on that, since the unfortunate prejudicial not a bit construsctive comment made by Greg, the british twat, was made like 2 years ago...

Anyway, I am Brazilian, and I am not exactly a fan of soap operas. I've watched some and actually liked it. But it's not my favorite kind of show...
I actually prefer sit-coms.
Or even some american drama series.

However, I cannot state that the Brazilian soaps are the any of aweful things the Twat said they were.

I completely disagree on what he said about the actors. We have great actors who show all of their talents and a bit more on the soaps. And differently from what Greg-the-twat said, some of them have even starred american shows and efilms (e.g.: Sonia Braga, who was recently in Sex & The City and Rodrigo Santoro was recently on LOST, not to mention he was Xerxes on 300!)

Anyway, I really don't need to repeat what many have already said here. It's clear that this guy has a one-sided , narrow-minded view not only of the soaps, but of the country and its people (including his own gf) and its culture.

By the way, has anyone ever had the misfurtune to watch UK TV? No? Yeah, that's right.
That's probably cuz there is nothing interesting enough to broadcast abroad.
Of course, I am not gonna say it's all rubbish. Ther must be something worth watching...
There is The Office... Which the Americans made an even more interesting version - that I personally preffer.
And the British soaps? Are they any better than the everlasting american ones?
Aren't they loud, garish, fast and dramatic?

2 words for you Mr Twat: Coronation Street.
Go back home and watch it a little.