Novelas and Brazil's New Middle Class

Shoppers in Rio's Bangú neighborhood

Two of Brazil's recent primetime TV shows feature the country's rising star of the moment: the new middle class. Cheias de Charme, or Full of Charm, just concluded a five-month run in at 7 p.m., receiving an average viewership of 34 points, higher than recent novelas in the same time slot. Avenida Brasil, Globo's 9 p.m. novela, ends in several weeks and enjoys a large viewership, reaching up to 65 percent of Brazilian TVs. The fact that two of the most watched television programs on Brazil's most watched television network showcased this group is telling, with a number of interesting implications. 

Traditionally, novelas were aspirational, often starring wealthy characters. Now, with the two novelas this year, they're intended to be relatable, a reflection of the tens of millions from the C class, or the new middle class. "When we portrayed poor people, they were always dreaming of leaving their suburbs and striking it rich. But now we want to show a place that, in spite of being poor, is cheerful and warm, a place where there can be prosperity,” Ricardo Waddington, coordinator of Avenida Brasil told Folha de São Paulo. Showing members of the new middle class flourishing represents a new type of aspiration. "Here in Brazil, there's a real problem in understanding how the lower middle class thinks. This lower class doesn't hold up the elite as a model. The reference for these people is not the rich, but rather the neighbor who succeeded," Renato Meirelles, CEO of Data Popular--a marketing firm specializing in the middle and lower classes--told the AP.

 

In some ways, the novelas are glorifying parts of Brazilian culture long considered inferior by the upper class. The two novelas offer insight into what the new middle class is like: how they dress, speak, and consume--or at least, Globo's vision of these elements. The novelas prominently feature working class neighborhoods, as well as using types of music popular with the new middle class like pagode and forró. Avenida Brasil's costume designer went out to Rio suburbs Bangú and Madureira for inspiration, as well as incorporating what singers and soccer players from working-class neighborhoods wear.

 The shows have used aggressive marketing both during commercials and offscreen for the new middle class. Commercials during the show target the C class, with everything from electronics stores to what one could call shoe porn:

 

As with many novelas, the products used on the show become must-have items, particularly for women, and despite featuring new middle class styles, Avenida Brasil is no exception. Pants and jewelry worn by the Suelen character have been a hit across the country. Globo licensed six lines of products made up for 50 items from Avenida Brasil alone. Riding on the metro in Rio, you can spot an ad labeled "Da TV para você" (from the TV to you), advertising hair products featured on the novela. You can even see ads on some of Rio's highways advertising the Guadalupe Mall as featured on Avenida Brasil.

Targeting the new middle class is an important marketing strategy, given the group's buying power and what the new middle class is purchasing. A recent IBGE study found that the C class spends more money on durable goods like cars, home appliances, and medicine than on food, education, and culture. The C class also helped drive Brazil's credit boom, and in Rio, one can buy a coconut or a meat skewer from a street vendor with a credit or debit card in some cases. As a result, the new middle class is quickly racking up debt; a September Kantar Worldpanel survey found that of Brazil's five social classes (ranging from A, the wealthiest to E, the poorest), the C class is the only one in which people spend more than they earn.

But being the center of one of the country's most watched shows doesn't mean that the traditional middle class or the upper class are celebrating the ascension of millions of Brazilians into the C class.

In fact, there's evidence that some are uncomfortable with this social group--long considered relegated to the outskirts of large cities and outside of spaces frequented by the the well-off--suddenly having money and access. This conflict has been obvious, particularly in places like airports where members of the new middle class rarely set foot before. But now it's statistically proven: a Data Popular survey found that a large portion of the wealthier sectors of Brazil are unhappy with the new middle class. The study showed that 55 percent of upper class consumers believe products should have separate versions "for the rich and the poor"; 48 percent believe the quality of services declined with the rise of the new middle class; 50 percent prefer going to places occupied by members of the "same social class"; 16 percent believe "poorly dressed" people should be barred from certain places; and 26 percent believe subways would bring "undesirables" to their neighborhoods. You also need look no further than Classe Média Sofre, a blog that details some of these tensions the traditional middle class and upper classes have with the new middle class.

"You're seeing people going to the theater or taking a flight for the first time ever, and the first time is very important," Marcelo Neri, head of research institute Ipea and Brazil's new middle class guru told O Público. "But it's a class that isn't accustomed to reading. This creates prejudice from the upper class. There's class conflict at the airports, since the elite always had empty airports to themselves. The new middle class makes them uncomfortable. Culturally, there are a lot of things happening but it's not traditional culture. It's in the periphery of cities."

The novelas may also include less obvious subtext about new middle class culture. Avenida Brasil writer João Emanuel Carneiro described the so-called "poor-rich" characters on the show as those who are "simple people who became rich but maintained their suburban ways." In describing how these characters figure into the show, columnist Mauricio Stycer points out the protagonist's "more subtle objective is to...'civilize' the poor-rich." Será?

Photo: Luiz Fernando Reis

Comments

[Lisa Kauffmann]

Brazil has changed alot in the past 20 years since I first stepped foot there. Yes, the C class is growing and they are spending more than they make. easy money and easy credit...hope it doesnt burst.
What I find amazing is that there is still rampant 'classism' in Brazil. I am going to read that blog you mentioned in your post. Classism is just a step away from racism, as most lower economic classes tend to be black or mulatto in some way. Tis is much more PC to complain about the 'poor' when actually people are complaining about blacks and mulattos. Xenophobia is illegal in Brazil and this snobbery of the 'upper' classes is just veiled racism.

[Julia Michaels]

Great post! I have watched a few episodes of Avenida Brasil and found one moment in which it also seems to want to civilize the rich, where one of them gets schooled on values. Sorry, don't recall the characters' names...

Also, old-fashioned novelas may have had an aspirational veneer, but in fact the message was: "Stay in your place, the rich suffer even more than you do". I would guess that this one's message is in a sense a "welcome to our world"-- a huge turning point if this turns out to be the case. Could it be that without the steep socio-economic pyramid Brazil's novelas will lose their main axis, and resort to the kinds of dim plot points seen in US soaps?

I'll never forget Regina Duarte having to slog over the sands, selling "sanduíche natural!

[Rio Gringa]

Lisa, that's very true and that's a whole other story to explore!

Julia, thank you. I think that's a really important point. The concept of social mobility is quite a breakthrough. I don't necessarily think this is the end of aspirational novelas though. If it makes for good TV, they'll keep doing it.

[Pedro Mundim]

Classismo?

Uma preocupação em nomear a classe social das pessoas e citar as implicações psicossociais daí derivadas parece ser recorrente nesse blog. Em particular a classe média brasileira é objeto frequente de análises, nem sempre lisonjeiras. Há muito tempo tenho observado a postura hipercrítica de "expats" para com brasileiros ricos (por rico entenda-se não-pobre) que constrasta com grande leniência para com os brasileiros pobres. Percebo mesmo um certo fascínio para com aspectos sórdidos da pobreza e da marginalidade, muito embora esses comentaristas não achem esse tipo de coisa interessante (ou tolerável) se ocorre em seus países de origem. Já os brasileiros ricos, isso é, os não-pobres, são alvo de críticas mesquinhas e zombaria, geralmente denotando seu esnobismo e classismo. A impressão que eu tenho é que não ser pobre, no Brasil, é considerado algo politicamente incorreto.

Acredito que essa atitude se origine do choque causado pela percepção das desigualdades sociais brasileiras. Psicologicamente faz sentido: a visão é repugnante, e a interpretação que vem à mente de imediato ao se ver indivíduos muito ricos ao lado de indivíduos muito pobres, é concluir que os primeiros estão espoliando os segundos - a riqueza é representada como os bombons em uma caixa, e no Brasil os ricos são aqueles que pegaram muitos bombons para si e deixaram poucos para os outros. Pronto.

Como eu disse, psicologicamente faz sentido. Mas economicamente, não. Empobrecer os ricos não enriquece os pobres. A desigualdade social, no Brasil como em qualquer outro lugar, é determinada pelo baixo valor agregado à força de trabalho, consequente da baixa produtividade geral da economia. A desigualdade social, ao contrário da escravidão, do racismo e do segragacionismo, não é um ato deliberado, mas um fenômeno essencialmente impessoal, produto de dúzias de fatores não-controláveis. Não concordo em absoluto em colocar no mesmo nível o racismo e o classismo: se fosse verdade o que Lisa disse, Pelé continuaria a ter que entrar pela porta dos fundos mesmo depois de enriquecer.

[Leonardo]

Pedro has a point. An american in the USA would never accept completely irregular street vendors occupying the sidewalks of their cities with plastic chairs, making food in a parking spot under the sun without any regards for heath safety, but when they come to Brazil it's all a beautiful expression of the popular brazilian culture that the racist local upper classes want to destroy.

Same thing with C class people being able to pay for flights recently. Very few people seem bothered by the fact that the airport is crowded per se, or that there's a black (or brown) person seated next to them. Most upper class people I see are bother by people of any race or background behaving like it's a carnival parade inside the damn plane. People that stand up during the whole flight, talking loudly like if they were in a bar, letting their children run thru the corridor or jump in their seats and applauding when the plane lands. Its nor a matter of racism but of respect and common politeness.

Any american in the USA would be pissed of with such behavior inside a plane in a NY-LA flight, but when they come to Brazil, it's all fine and if some other brazilian complain, it's because he's a prejudiced upper class racist. Please...

[Eric]

I am Brazilian, and I just came here to say that I really like your blog! Congratulations

Eu sou brasileiro, e eu sou vim aqui para dizer que eu realmente gostei do seu blog! Parabéns!

[Peternel1]

I like the blog and agree with everything you said. You pinpointed the facts related to our novelas and the "great divide" between riches and poors. Congratulations!

[Pedro Mundim]

Leonardo percebeu bem o que eu quis dizer. Esse apreço pelos costumes dos brasileiros pobres, tanto quanto o criticismo contra a atitude da classe média, costumam ser revestidos de uma finalidade nobre - a defesa aos pobres assume ares de preservação de sua cultura e modo de vida, o ataque aos ricos vai de encontro à severa desigualdade social brasileira, etc. Mas com um pouco de experiência e observação, vemos que não é bem assim.

Não vou discutir a necessidade que vendedores de rua pobres e desempregados têm de ganhar a vida, e por esse motivo sujam e ocupam irregularmente as ruas. Vou discutir porque tal prática é denominada "cultura". É uma denominação ambígua. Não é falso: em seu sentido mais amplo, antropológico, "cultura", de fato, compreende todos os usos e costumes de uma população. Mas é ardiloso: ao ser chamada de cultura, tal prática está se abrigando sob um álibi - afinal, todas as manifestações culturais devem ser vistas sob um ponto de vista neutro, do contrário é discriminação. Sutil e eficaz!

Mas fica a pergunta no ar: trata-se de cultura brasileira? Eu penso que não. Esse tipo de transgressão se insere em um contexto mais amplo, da cultura universal dos pobres, ou dos guetos - em qualquer lugar do mundo onde as pessoas não têm ocupação regular, elas e dedicam a esses expedientes para ganhar seu sustento. Aí se incluem quase todas as "manifestações culturais" culturais que os estrangeiros que passam pelo Brasil gostam, ou pelo menos acham tolerável, tanto que até fazem "favelas-tour" para melhor apreciá-los.

Agora, explicar o porquê deles apreciarem (ou reconhecerem como genuíno) o Brasil marginal, pertencente à cultura universal dos guetos, é menos fácil de explicar. Mas penso que apreciar o nosso lado gueto é desejar que fiquemos confinados (culturalmente ou simbolicamente) em guetos - em outras palavras, reconhecer o nosso lado gueto significa não reconhecer nosso lado regular, padrão. Fechando a simetria de meu raciocínio, temos a rejeição à classe média que encarna o Brasil padrão, não-marginal. Será?

[Leonardo]

Exactly. Nobody discuss the needs of populations to find ways to put food on their table, but some activities and 'cultural expressions' are simply consequences of unemployment, lack of formal education, governmental ineffectiveness and overall poverty .Things that are far from being desirable and are not to be praised, but to be fixed, improved and organized.

Irregular street food vendors can and should be transformed into legal regular food trucks, that pay their taxes, are submitted to health inspections, respect rules of times and places adequate to their activities, etc. This is not being classicist or trying to destroy popular culture, but trying to evolve and develop a country.

Favela tours are actually quite offensive. These places are a symbol of poverty, urban violence, and lack of jobs, public health, education, law enforcement and infra-structure. Favelas should not be a touristic attraction, but places to be severely modified into proper neighborhoods with sanitation, proper water and electricity systems, hospitals, police stations, schools, public transport, etc. They are not a beautiful expression of brazilian culture, they are the consequence of decades of poverty, social inequity and several other 3rd world problems. Seeing them as a problem is not classicism, but conscience of everything that's wrong and must be improved in our country.

[Simone]

Faz tempo que não venho no blog da gringa. Como sempre, ela escreve muito bem mas a opinião segue tão... ok, vou me auto-censurar pois não desejo magoá-la. Oxalá um dia ela perceba que não adianta falar de "nós" sem incluir "eles".

O que quero dizer é que não acredito que nem os EUA nem os países ricos, sejam os culpados de todos nossos males, mas com certeza tiveram (e tem ainda, até certo ponto) sua grande parcela de responsabilidade na desigualdade existente nos países pobres e em desenvolvimento.

Só vim aqui para dizer que Pedro, você realmente disse TUDO aqui:

"Há muito tempo tenho observado a postura hipercrítica de "expats" para com brasileiros ricos (por rico entenda-se não-pobre) que constrasta com grande leniência para com os brasileiros pobres. Percebo mesmo um certo fascínio para com aspectos sórdidos da pobreza e da marginalidade, muito embora esses comentaristas não achem esse tipo de coisa interessante (ou tolerável) se ocorre em seus países de origem."

Parabéns pela sua eloquência. Talvez seja mesma uma questão psicológica. Engraçado eu quando cheguei nos EUA pela primeira vez senti na pele a sensação de riqueza, fruto do egoísmo e desigualdade econômica entre aqueles que "tem tudo" e os que "nada tem" - no sentido material, obviamente. Talvez por isso minha raiva e falta de interesse com aquela cidade (Nova York) era tão óbvia. It works both ways, I guess.

Espero que no futuro mais e mais gringos percebam que a desigualdade que tanto lhes desagrada ao vir aqui (e a riqueza que tanto nos incomoda ao ir lá) são dois lados de uma mesma moeda. O ser humano é cruel e egoísta tanto quanto consegue ser adorável e cheio de compaixão ao próximo.

[Adam]

I've heard lots of Brazilians deplore these kind of behaviors -" Falta de educação "
http://www.brasileire.com/forum/os-outros-brasileiros