Love triangles, broken hearts and a reality TV star, accompanied by an upbeat samba soundtrack. It could only be Brazil’s latest nightly telenovela, which debuted last week. However, Insensato Coracao, or “Foolish Heart,” is set to break the mould by featuring at least six gay characters.
“We are going to take on a contemporary and pertinent issue,” Ricardo Linhares, one of the novela’s creators told Brazil’s R7 news-site, adding that he hoped the soap would help “combat -prejudice and promote acceptance.”
Most Brazilian cities boast gay communities, but homophobia and violence persist. According to the Grupo Gay da Bahia, 198 homosexuals were murdered in Brazil in 2009, up from a figure of 122 two years earlier.
Soap operas often pull in close to 50 million viewers. Other ones have attempted to raise awareness of other taboos such as mental health, drug abuse and alcoholism.
“This is a step forwards,” Julio Moreira, president of the gay rights group Arco-Iris, told Extra newspaper. “Gays have always been portrayed as marginal [characters] or in some negative way. It is important to show diversity and to raise political questions.”
Toni Reis, president of the Brazilian Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transsexuals, said Foolish Heart was an important chance to break stereotypes and bring “visibility.”
“It is a chance to show a reality and a vocabulary that can influence Brazilian culture a great deal,” he said.
“Today we are the country with the highest number of gay pride rallies in the world ... but the nightly soap-opera reaches every home in Brazil,” said Reis, who made legal history in 2003 by securing a permanent visa for his British partner.
Reis said Brazil’s television generally presented a “distorted image” of the gay community, with mentions of homosexuality restricted to three types of show: comedy, crime programs and religious channels where evangelical preachers rail against homosexuality.
In contrast, among the gay characters in Foolish Heart are a lawyer, a professor, a journalist and a shopkeeper.
Gay soap fans have long called for an on-screen kiss and in 2005 looked to have succeeded when the local media announced that two male characters would do so in a soap called America.
The scene was eventually cut, however, promoting a kissing protest outside Brazil’s Congress.
Foolish Heart’s creators say viewers hoping for a gay kiss will be disappointed. At a press conference to launch the telenovela, Gilberto Braga, another of its authors, was blunt: “The audience is not ready.”
Reis said the decision showed “a lack of courage and daring. Kissing is a display of affection and not an affront to society. Corruption, violence, accidents: These are affronts and are shown on TV in excess.”
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