Telenovelas: Consumption and Dissemination of a Brazilian Fashion

Abstract

This article addresses the importance of telenovelas in launching fashions in Brazil and their role in the translation of the international fashion scene for Brazilians between 1978 and 2001. This study analyzes the costumes of three female characters from three Brazilian telenovelas which were broadcast during prime time on the Rede Globo de Televisão (Globo Television Network—the broadcasting station that since the 1970s has had the highest viewing figures in Brazil, largely due to the appeal of its telenovelas). The telenovelas represented are Dancing’ Days (1978–1979), Roque Santeiro (1985) and O Clone (2001–2002). These telenovelas also became renowned internationally and, in turn, helped spread Brazilian fashion abroad. The fashions of the telenovelas led to the creation of at least two trends in fashion consumption: one formed at the periphery and another that moved from the periphery to the center.

Keywords:

• telenovela
• fashion
• costume
• Brazil
• consumption

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the anonymous reviewers and the co-editors for their comments and, in particular, André Luis Monteiro and Regina A. Root as we finalized this essay for publication.

Notes

1. Stuart Hall (2006) describes the idea of translation as the way in which hybrid cultures, or rather those that are involved in colonization and large-scale immigration, process the external references of their culture and embody them in a way that endows them with a proper meaning.

2. According to Antonio C. La Pastina, “Product placements are commercial insertions within a particular program media intended to heighten the visibility of a brand, type of a product or service. These insertions are not intended to break away from the narrative but to be an integral part of the text, attempting to create an organic relationship between an advertised product and the narrative, encouraging viewers to ‘read’ the products as a quality of the character using and approving it. (2001, 541)

3. Dancin’ Days (author: Gilberto Braga; directors: Daniel Filho, Gonzaga Blota, Dennis Carvalho e Marcos Paulo; exhibition period: July 10, 1978‒January 27, 1979), (Memória Globo 2015a).

Roque Santeiro (author: Dias Gomes; co-author: Aguinaldo Silva; directors: Paulo Ubiratan, Jayme Monjardim, Gonzaga Blota e Marcos Paulo, exihibition period: June 24, 1985–February 22, 1986), (Memória Globo 2015b).

O Clone (author: Gloria Perez, directors: Jayme Monjardim, Marcos Schechtman, Mário Márcio Bandarra, Marcelo Travesso e Teresa Lampreia; exihbition period: October 1, 2001‒June 15, 2002), (Memória Globo 2015c).

4. An example of a telenovela based on contemporary Brazil is Avenida Brasil (Author: João Emanuel Carneiro; directors: Amora Mautner e José Luis Villamarim, March 26–October 19, 2012).

5. The heroines of telenovelas, such as the three women analyzed in this paper, Julia Matos (Dancin’ Days), Viúva Porcina (Roque Santeiro) and Jade Rachid (O Clone), usually serve as an inspiration for the audience.

6. This had a storyline about the Italian immigration to Brazil that took place between the end of the nineteenth century and the end of the Second World War (1945).

7. In the first phase of Dancin’ Days, the character often appeared with simple hair style and clothes and discreet makeup, with no fashion appeal. In the second phase, and especially in the scene of her return to Rio from Paris, where she appeared dancing in the discothèque, Julia Matos wore her hair loose, possibly inspired by Bianca Jaeger’s haircut (Bianca was at that time one of the Studio 54 muses). The makeup was composed of bright red lipstick and boldly outlined eyes. But it was her clothes that drew more attention: red jogging pants, very short bustier and sandals with Lurex socks.

8. In the Jornal do Brasil of January 24, 1972, columnist Zozimo reported on guests at an elegant dinner in Rio de Janeiro, saying socialite Ionita Guinle was wearing a Lurex blouse by Yves Saint Laurent.

9. A first version of Roque Santeiro was to have been broadcast in 1975, but was censored by the military government that classified the plot as subversive (Johnson 1988).

10. 1985 was the year of the opening up of politics in the country, and it was at this time that the first president in 21 years was elected by the National Congress. In the same year, the National Congress ratified the constitutional amendments that established direct elections for the President of the Republic.

11. That the cultures are beginning to be more closely interrelated—from the center to the periphery, but also from the periphery to the center—may be the most surprising transformation of the globalization process. The presence of the central cultures in colonized and peripheral countries has been a reality ever since the sixteenth century. However, the presence of peripheral cultures, whether found in peripheral countries or on the peripheries of central countries, is a more recent phenomenon (Guimarães 2007).

12. On the success of Brazilian telenovelas in Italy see: Telenovelas passion 2012 Telenovela anni 80.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maria Claudia Bonadio

Maria Claudia Bonadio has a PhD in History from the State University of Campinas. She is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Arts and Design, Federal University of Juiz de Fora and author of Moda e sociabilidade nos anos 1920 (Fashion and sociability in São Paulo during the 1920s; Senac 2007) and Moda e publicidade no Brasil nos anos 1960 (Fashion and advertising in Brazil during the 1960s; Nversos 2014).

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Maria Eduarda Araujo Guimarães

Maria Eduarda Guimarães has a PhD in Social Sciences from the State University of Campinas. A Lecturer in Fashion Design at Senac University Center, her research lies in the area of culture and consumerism. She is the co-author of A deusa ferida: porque a rede Globo não é mais a campeã de audiência (The wounded goddess: why the Globo network no longer commands an audience; Summus Editorial 2000) and Rap e educação, Rap é educação (Rap and education, Rap is education; Selo Negro, 1999).

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