6pm telenovela slot globo – the free-to-air channel of the largest production power in Latin America – has long been known for its highly successful, family-oriented period pieces, from “The Thorn and the Rose” to “Pepper Chocolate.” Currently on air, “She’s the One” is eyeing to join this prestigious rank.
talking specifically with Diversity Before the launch of “She’s the One” Contents America – a Miami-based program aimed at the Latin and Hispanic markets with telenovelas, series, documentaries and formats – showrunner Alessandra Poggi says she is thrilled with the audience’s reception of Story so far in Brazil.
Set in 1958, “She’s the One” follows Beatriz (Duda Santos), who believed she was abandoned at the age of four, but later discovers that her beloved mother (Carol Castro) Suffers a serious accident and is later molested by a villainous mother. The son’s duo, played by famous actors Lilia Cabral and Fabio Assunção.
It is the third period piece directed by Poggi, following “Dark Days” and “A Trick of Fate”. On setting the story in 1958, Poggi says she “likes setting a period telenovela in a specific year rather than a certain decade.” She adds, “In ‘A Trick of Fate,’ we were in 1944 when Brazilian soldiers went off to fight in World War II, because I like to make the most of our country’s vast and rich history. When I needed to pick a year for ‘She’s the One’, I chose 1958, which lives on in our cultural imagination as the year everything went right in Brazil.
alessandra poggi
Credit: Globo
The author adds, “We won the World Cup for the first time.” “It was the year bossa nova was invented, we had Cinema Novo, the creation of our capital, Brasília… Then I started to examine what wasn’t so good about 1958 because things were so different for everyone.” Couldn’t have been so pleasant.”
Running away from privilege, Poggi found stories of people who lived harsh lives in a time widely considered prosperous in Brazil, linking his protagonist’s struggles with still-relevant issues like racism and sexism.
“This is something I like to investigate in my work: Who is happy in society? Who is thriving? who is not? In 1958, men cheated on their wives more frequently; Society was extremely sexist and racist. Children of divorced mothers had to suffer a lot. Strange people cannot live truthfully. So, I wanted to talk about these issues, which unfortunately are still relevant today. “I couldn’t ignore it.”
Discussing heavy issues in a family-friendly slot, Poggi says he believes “every story can be told in any slot” as long as writers have “the right approach”.
“I don’t mind doing research on a particular issue; I’m just careful about how I bring these topics into the story so that viewers loyal to the 6 pm slot don’t reject such discussions,” she says, stressing that her strategy is to avoid conversations on topics like racism and classism. To promote. In a “soft” tone suited for a classic period piece. “People embrace it and start thinking about those issues. Lots of kids are watching ‘She’s the One’. The whole family sits together to watch the novel. My kids watch it. It’s all about tone.”
As for what the author considers the biggest advantage of the Brazilian telenovela, the answer is right there on her lips: “It is an open work. And it’s also a long open-ended work, where you have room to modify the story according to people’s feedback. I think this is undoubtedly the greatest triumph of our novels.
“I also like to follow the telenovela as it airs,” she says of the immediacy of the format. “When the episode is airing I’m on Twitter to check what people are saying. I love it when my manicurist mentions it, when I hear people talking about it at the supermarket. People will write to me and tell me about things they like and things they don’t like.”
While telenovelas lose some of the format’s triumphs when screened internationally because writers are no longer able to adjust the narrative, Poggi still believes they have “incredible” international potential. “Brazilian telenovelas have traveled the world since the beginning. I was in Chile once and one of my novels was on TV. It’s displayed as a one-off work, so it has a different quality to it, but it’s still incredible to see the reaction to it.
“When we see something we have written, or a friend has written, being used abroad, we are very happy because it is a way of transmitting our culture. People are more interested in visiting our country, reading our writers, consuming our art… Telenovelas take Brazil around the world.
On top of the screenings of “She’s the One” this week, Globo Content will celebrate its 100th anniversary in the Americas with a program called Globo 360: The Future Has Already Begun, starring acclaimed actress Sophie Charlotte (“Rebirth” and “All the Flowers”) will be included. in attendance.