Black TV in Brazil: Power to the People
by Shawn Lindsey
"TV da Gente is reinvigorating Brazilian TV and showing Brazil's true racial plurality."
What if there was a revolution and everybody watched it on TV? Contrary to Gil Scott-Heron's assertion, the revolution was indeed televised and millions of Afro-Brazilians tuned in to watch it as a historic event unfolded before their eyes. For the first time in Brazil's history a TV channel was created to offer programming primarily geared toward the 75 million persons of African descent in South America's largest country. TV da Gente - the People's TV - premiered last November 20th on what has become nationally recognized throughout Brazil as Black Consciousness Day and will soon be celebrating its one year anniversary.
TV da Gente is the brainchild of 35 year-old Jose de Paula Neto, an Afro-Brazilian singer and musician whose claim to fame was as a vocalist in Negritude Junior, one of Brazil's most popular samba/pagode groups. Neto, commonly referred to as Netinho, successfully parlayed his singing career into TV appearances as a host and subsequently as a producer of TV shows. Now in his new role as a successful entrepreneur, Jose de Paula may seem to the outside observer to have been born with a silver spoon in his mouth but nothing could be further from the truth.
"The problem is viewed not as racial discrimination but simply as invisibility."
Born in a poor suburb outside Sao Paulo, Neto learned early in life how to earn a living. At the tender age of seven he sold candy on buses to supplement the family income. Despite the hardships of his childhood, he possessed a vivid imagination that ultimately served as a portent of things to come as he relates: "My mother didn't like to watch frivolous programs on TV so I used to watch TV with no sound. During the commercials I would turn the TV off. When the TV was off I was able to see my own reflection on the TV screen and I would pretend to be a singer."
Tragedy struck when his mother died when he was only 11 and, in order to cope with the pain of her loss, Neto began singing emotionally laden songs in homage of her memory. This invariably paved the way for what would later become a successful singing career. With the success of Negritude Junior Neto gained access to many TV networks; first through guest appearances and later as a TV host. His access to TV studios and their inner workings precipitated a change in his thinking and brought about some interesting observations as Neto relates:
I began to perceive, not only at the TV station where I worked but at other [Brazilian] networks, that the lack of black participation in the media was worse than I had imagined. When one talks about discrimination, you know who you have to fight against. You fight against the person who discriminates against you. But one who believes that they don't discriminate because there is no racial discrimination [in Brazil] compounds the problem immensely. The problem is viewed not as racial discrimination but simply as invisibility. This is much more difficult to confront.
Neto's acute observations on the absence of Afro-Brazilians on Brazilian TV are certainly not a figment of his imagination. Outside of sports and entertainment, Afro-Brazilians do not figure prominently on any of Brazil's three major networks: Rede Globo, SBT (Sistema Brasileira de Televisao) and Rede Manchete. This "invisibility" has historical antecedents and is deeply rooted in the subtle and not so subtle interplay between gross economic disparities and racism. White Brazilians are quick to point out that the lack of a significant black presence on TV networks is more grounded in the former and won't hesitate to name a litany of factors, such as inordinate illiteracy levels, criminality, drugs, etc., that coalesce to effectuate a "black vacuum" within Brazilian media networks. Afro-Brazilian militants however, are quick to counter that, while it's true that the aforementioned societal ills are commonplace amongst a significant cadre of black Brazilians, they are more indicative of an underlying current of institutional racism that is conveniently extricated from popular discussion surrounding the issue than any lethargic disposition or intellectual ineptitude on the part of Afro-Brazilians.
"Despite Brazil's insistence upon possessing better race relations than its North American counterpart, many aspects of black participation in Brazilian TV productions run parallel to those in the US."
Historically speaking, black Brazilians have had a harder time gaining access to decent roles on TV than in movies or in theater productions. This is certainly not to suggest that the latter two have welcomed blacks with open arms. Despite Brazil's insistence upon possessing better race relations than its North American counterpart, many aspects of black participation in Brazilian TV productions run parallel to those in the US. In a 1969 adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe's classic Uncle Tom's Cabin (A Cabana do Pai Tomas), the white actor Sergio Cardoso played the lead role with a minstrel-styled black face painted with cork. This was necessary, according to the directors at the time, since there weren't any qualified black actors. Nearly fifteen years later Sonia Braga, who considers herself white, would earn critical acclaim for her role in the 1983 TV drama Gabriela in which she portrayed a black cook and mistress. Reason: no black actresses who could fit the profile. In the 1975 drama series Pecado Capital (Capital Crime), veteran Afro-Brazilian actor Milton Goncalves defied the times and conventional wisdom when he played the role of Percival Gomes, a black psychiatrist. Although the show was popular many Brazilians believed his role was "unrealistic" and it received a considerable amount of hate mail due to the fact that Percival's on-screen wife was white. It should be noted that the two never kissed or displayed affection towards each other.
It is only within the last decade or so that blacks have garnered pioneering non stereotypical TV roles that have forced many Brazilians to redefine their assumptions about black participation in Brazilian society. In 1995, Zeze Motta, the lead actress in the original 1976 Xica da Silva, Antonio Pitanga, Camila Pitanga and Norton Nascimento made history in the popular TV series A Proxima Vitima (The Next Victim) - the first actors to portray a middle-class Afro-Brazilian family on national TV. In 2002, A Turma do Gueto (The Ghetto Gang), a TV series with a predominantly black cast that revolves around the lives of black slum dwellers in Sao Paulo produced by Jose de Paula Neto, garnered one the highest viewer ratings of any Brazilian TV series. In 2004 Tais Araujo, perhaps Brasil's most recognized and best paid black actress became the first black woman to have a lead role on a Rede Globo TV series. The show, Da Cor do Pecado (The Color of Sin), has enjoyed phenomenal success as it pulled in staggering ratings of 68% of all Brazilian viewers in its first year.
"A black TV series pulled in staggering ratings of 68% of all Brazilian viewers in its first year."
Given Brazil's turbid past in relation to black participation on TV, Neto's accomplishment of creating TV da Gente seems all the more remarkable. With an initial investment of 12 million Reis (roughly 4 million dollars) from Neto, NDC Communication and some Angolan investors, TV da Gente set up its headquarters in Sao Paulo. The state of the art facility allows TV da Gente to produce first rate programs that reach all of the metropolitan regions of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador da Bahia, Porto Alegre, Brasilia and Fortleza. In addition, its programs can also be seen in Africa, Europe, parts of Asia and the East Coast of the United States via the Eutelsat Atlantic Bird 3 satellite. When it first aired last November, TV da Gente started with roughly 6 hours of daily programming. Currently there are just over 13 hours of programming with the goal of expanding to 20 hours daily by years end.
TV da Gente bills itself as the "color of Brazil" and the "new standard" which all networks will have to emulate. What immediately strikes one about the new channel is that Afro-Brazilians predominate in all of the shows offered - from children's programs, news broadcasts, hip hop, gospel and R&B videos to political commentary talk shows. The presence of black Brazilians is undeniable and absolute. This fact coincides with the stated objectives of TV da Gente which are to reinvigorate Brazilian TV and show Brazil's true racial plurality. According to Neto; "The goal of TV da Gente is to show the ethnic diversity within Brazil and to valorize its social integration. It will promote ethnic pride as it is more than just a personal dream; it is a realization of a people who are finally able to see themselves on TV." With this November 20th marking its one year anniversary, Neto has a lot to celebrate about. He has firmly proved to Brazilian society that such a network is not only viable and capable of attracting a large audience but is also financially lucrative. As Neto further adds: "I see myself as a soldier who has to complete a mission. It's not about me. It's an obligation that must be carried out; just like Zumbi dos Palmares had to fight to liberate his people back in the days of slavery."
Shawn Lindsey is an ESL instructor at Los Angeles City College and the author of The Afro-Brazilian Organization Directory: A Reference Guide to Black Organizations in Brazil (Universal Publishers). He also provides tours to Bahia, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. He may be contacted at: [email protected].