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Telenovía power of activism during oppression

10/1/2018

 By: Duncan West
In my brief essay I will be discussing the power of activism in media. Media activism can have world wide impact in ways that would be impossible without the media world we live in today. The area of media activism I will be discussing is through Brazils telenovia network, called Globo Network. This network in particular did many things to help initiate change in Brazil. The main groups that this network targeted were the critics of the telenovia and they also tried to reach the sympathy of the growing sectors of people that rejected the military regime. This military regime did not approve of the Globo network and their points they supported. Even when trying to find information from the telenovias you can not. They are still under censorship allowing you to only watch single episodes from the Telenovias of that time, not allowing us to receive the whole idea of any of the seasons. Making it so now we can not get the whole story these activists were trying to get across.

The reason for this networks success is the hungry media market of Brazil.”Despite the proximity of the success of the first daily telenovela and the rise of the military regime, there is still no evidence of a direct connection between the two events, as hinted at by a former Brazilian TV director and communication scholar”(Ribke, 2011, p. 662). With a growing market this makes the perfect platform for media activism. This Globo network had a unique opportunity that no other telenovia networks had at the time. All television at this time was being censored, but telenovia censoring was limited because they were not showing news or informative programming they were strictly showing telenovias. Television was censored by A federal police organ in charge of television. This gave the Globe network the ideal spot for media activism. Telenovia grabbed the attention of many of the left winged screenwriters who joined the network. “From the late 1960s until the end of the military rule, theater playwrights famous for their critical views and left-wing ideology worked for Globo Network as telenovela writers. From 1968 until 1976, these ‘critical’ writers were the authors of almost 50 percent of the telenovelas produced by Globo Network during that period.”(Ribke, 2011, p. 661) Bringing professional screenwriters who were activist for the left-winged movement, brought a power that was unmatched in the media world of Brazil at the time. Plus these authors screenwriter were surprisingly accepted by the military regime. These Brazilian telenovias were not just writing about a story they would bring Brazilian national identity to the spot light. These screenwriter had been limited in their writings while working alone, but once with the Globe network they could reach a live scale audience without breaking the law. After the coup however many of the writers for the Globo network were targeted and persecuted for their leftist views. 

Even through all these limitations the Globo Network was still able to get massive support amongst all of the citizens. This support later changed after Brazil setup a democracy, because their views of the leftwing were no longer supported or looked upon as progressive. The Globo network still did a great job of avoiding censorship and using media activism to their advantage. Even though the effects that the network supported were not put into place their bring up in Brazilian media still made a big impact on the market. It also helped establish Telenovia as a genre of television.

Ribke, N. (2011). Telenovela writers undertake military regime in Brazil: Beyond the cooption and resistance dichotomy. Tel Aviv University, Israel. 33(5) 659-573. DOI: 10.1 17763443711398691

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Comments

  1. KHNovember 3, 2018 at 10:52 AM

    Duncan,

    Good to see you looking beyond US popular culture and exploring the "cultural politics" of popular television.

    All the same, this post suffers from some glaring errors of style, form and content.

    First and foremost, the word you are looking for is telenovela, not telenovia as you have throughout. Then there's your use of possessive and plural forms (e.g., "this network's," "these screenwriters"). As we've noted throughout the semester, one error of this sort is understandable. But persistent mistakes in such a short essay reveal a problem in your writing and a lack of quality control on the part of your writing group.

    More substantively, you haven't done a very good job summarizing this article. The author employs archival research to examine the complex relationship between the writers of telenovelas with the military regime in Brazil during the last half of the 20th century. Your discussion is muddled and confusing. Consider the first quote. What two events are being referenced? It isn't clear.

    Equally important, while this piece might be useful in a course on International Media, you don't make a convincing case for taking it up here. That's not to say it isn't relevant, but you really have to demonstrate this.

    Other problems, including a reference riddled with mistakes (e.g., no journal title) further undermine your effort.

    22 pts.


    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 13, 2018 at 12:00 PM

    Duncan-

    Your choice to take on a topic that falls outside US popular culture was an ambitious one, and I appreciate you pushing our class's curriculum. However this may not have been the best topic, since the telenovelas were subject to censorship which may have made your research more difficult.

    While your topic had a lot of potential, the execution fell flat. I struggled to understand the argument you were trying to make. It seemed that the organization of your argument lacked any real structure, which made reading the post disorienting. Going forward, I encourage you to ask your collaborators for further assistance and feedback.

    ReplyDelete

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