BRICS and Mediated Narratives: The Proximity Between Brazilian News and Telenovelas

Abstract

By analyzing the telenovela Caminho das Indias, broadcasted in 2009 and then again in 2015, this article discusses the concept of BRICS, more specifically of Brazil and India, and the question of soft power as a possibility of communicative and cultural influence which could contribute, through the diversity that is a staple of the block, to propose a counterpoint to the contemporary monoculture of worldviews. The argument used here is that audiovisual transnational narratives such as films (India) and television (Brazil) establish an important bridge between journalism and fiction. This is because they exercise, to some extent, an 'agenda-setting' role, in other words they are transformed newsworthy media, presenting the public with events and reflections on current issues. This paper discusses the relationship between the mediation between information-entertainment specifically in Brazilian telenovelas, analyzing the representation of the two countries through Brazilian author Gloria Perez’s work.

Keywords

• Journalism
• Brazil
• India
• Soap opera
• Agenda-setting