TV Globo Vai na Fé - a pauta racial na telenovela das sete

Abstract

This study aims to understand the phenomenon in Black characters in Brazilian telenovelas, focusing on TV Globo. Based on the author’s personal interest in the telenovela genre, the research identifies the importance of racial representation as its central issue. It initially presents a historical overview of racial representations in telenovelas since their origins, distinguishing the concepts of “representation” and “representativeness.” As its object of analysis, the study selects the telenovela Vai na Fé (TV Globo, 2023), a historical milestone for featuring a predominantly Black cast in the 7 p.m. time slot. The investigation seeks to understand how Vai na Fé engages with racial debates present in society from TV Globo’s institutional perspective, questioning and analyzing the broadcaster’s motivations for increasing the presence of Black actors in its productions. Using Miranda's (2020) methodology to analyze audiovisual objects by the dimension of industry, production and reception, the author opts only for the industrial approach as it already answers the research problem, bringing discoveries regarding changes in TV Globo's business conduct, such as adherence to the Pact for the Promotion of Racial Equity and ESG policies, seeking to bring more racial representation to the broadcaster.