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Brazilian Telenovelas and the Myth of Racial Democracy

Samantha Nogueira Joyce

Brazilian Telenovelas and the Myth of Racial Democracy, by Samantha Nogueira Joyce, examines what happens when a telenovela directly addresses matters of race and racism in contemporary Brazil. This investigation provides a traditional textual analysis of Duas Caras (2007-2008), a watershed telenovela for two main reasons: It was the first of its kind to present audiences with an Afro-Brazilian as the main hero, openly addressing race matters through plot and dialogue. Additionally, for the first time in the history of Brazilian television, the author of Duas Caras kept a web blog where he discussed the public's reactions to the storylines, media discussions pertaining to the characters and plot, and directly engaged with fans and critics of the program.

Joyce combines her investigation of Duas Caras with a study of related media in order to demonstrate how the program introduced novel ideas about race and also offered a forum where varying perspectives on race, class, and racial relations in Brazil could be discussed. Brazilian Telenovelas is not a reception study in the traditional sense, it is not a story of entertainment-education in the strict sense, and it is not solely a textual analysis. Instead, Joyce's text is a study of the social milieu that the telenovela (and especially Duas Caras) navigates, one that is a component of a contemporary progressive social movement in Brazil, and one that views the text as being located in social interactions. As such, this book reveals how telenovelas contribute to social change in a way that has not been fully explored in previous scholarship.

Lexington Books

Pages: 150 • Trim: 6½ x 9½

978-0-7391-6964-3 • Hardback • March 2012 • $114.00 • (£88.00)

978-0-7391-6965-0 • eBook • April 2012 • $108.00 • (£83.00)

Series: Critical Studies in Television

Subjects: Social Science / Media Studies, Social Science / Popular Culture, Social Science / Discrimination & Race Relations, Social Science / Regional Studies

Brazilian Telenovelas and the Myth of Racial Democracy

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Brazilian Telenovelas and the Myth of Racial Democracy, by Samantha Nogueira Joyce, examines what happens when a telenovela directly addresses matters of race and racism in contemporary Brazil. This investigation provides a traditional textual analysis of Duas Caras (2007-2008), a watershed telenovela for two main reasons: It was the first of its kind to present audiences with an Afro-Brazilian as the main hero, openly addressing race matters through plot and dialogue. Additionally, for the first time in the history of Brazilian television, the author of Duas Caras kept a web blog where he discussed the public's reactions to the storylines, media discussions pertaining to the characters and plot, and directly engaged with fans and critics of the program.

Joyce combines her investigation of Duas Caras with a study of related media in order to demonstrate how the program introduced novel ideas about race and also offered a forum where varying perspectives on race, class, and racial relations in Brazil could be discussed. Brazilian Telenovelas is not a reception study in the traditional sense, it is not a story of entertainment-education in the strict sense, and it is not solely a textual analysis. Instead, Joyce's text is a study of the social milieu that the telenovela (and especially Duas Caras) navigates, one that is a component of a contemporary progressive social movement in Brazil, and one that views the text as being located in social interactions. As such, this book reveals how telenovelas contribute to social change in a way that has not been fully explored in previous scholarship.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 150 • Trim: 6½ x 9½

978-0-7391-6964-3 • Hardback • March 2012 • $114.00 • (£88.00)

978-0-7391-6965-0 • eBook • April 2012 • $108.00 • (£83.00)

Series: Critical Studies in Television

Subjects: Social Science / Media Studies, Social Science / Popular Culture, Social Science / Discrimination & Race Relations, Social Science / Regional Studies

Author

Samantha Nogueira Joyce is assistant professor of mass communication at Indiana University, South Bend.

Table of Contents

Chapter I – Episode 1: And Let There be White
Chapter II – Black Flows: Duas Caras / The Legacy of Whitening and Racial Democracy
Chapter III – "My Little Whitey" / "My Big, Delicious Negro:" Telenovelas, Duas Caras, and the Representation of Race
Chapter IV – Deu no Blogão! ("It was in the Big Blog!"): Writing a Telenovela, a Blog, and a Metadiscourse
Chapter V – Duas Caras as a New Approach to Social Merchandising
Chapter VI – Conclusions
References
About the Author
Index

Reviews

Joyce's work documents the intersection of telenovelas, race, and new media in Brazil, making a compelling case for this genre's importance while explaining the complex strategies employed to make telenovelas successful in promoting social change.

— Antonio C. La Pastina, Texas A&M University

Brazilian Telenovelas and the Myth of Racial Democracy

Samantha Nogueira Joyce

Brazilian Telenovelas and the Myth of Racial Democracy

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