It feels kind of lonely around here and nothing much is happening. Where is everyone? Oh, right, Cannes. Moving on...

I don't watch the current novela on Globo, Duas Caras, but awhile back the the creator said he had written a scene with a kiss between gay couple Bernardinho (Thiago Mendonça) e Carlão (Gui Palhares) for the final episode of the series. (Novelas - soap operas - in Brazil show six nights a week in limited runs, typically about 9 months.) In the real world, a kiss between two men is no longer such a big deal. A gay wedding was recently shown on another broadcast channel, MTV Brasil shows gay kisses regularly, not to mention all the gay characters on cable. Globo, however, is frustratingly consistent and has decided to censor the Duas Caras kiss, just as it's done several times on previous novelas. The reason they gave is that their quality standards do not allow "affection and kisses between homosexuals."

I could go on and on about Globo's influence on Brazilian society. Decades back it was used by the dictatorship as a means of uniting the country. Its monopoly on Brazilian television has, until recently, seemed unstoppable. According to wikipedia, it's the fourth largest broadcaster in the world with a daily audience of 80 million people.

I'm not saying Globo is evil. Recent novelas have made great progress in avoiding the caricatures of before and portraying minorities like homosexuals in a positive light. Practically every novela these days has a few gay characters. I just get tired with the bullshit television networks pull by constantly underestimating their audiences and always playing to the status quo. Sure, some areas of Brazil are extremely conservative, but on the flip side, this country has the largest gay pride parade in the world. Something tells me Globo's power will not be threatened by a simple gay kiss (and they might earn some respect in the process).

That being said, I leave you with my two favorite novela characters ever: Bebel (Camila Pitanga) and Olavo (Wagner Moura) from Paraíso Tropical, which ended last year. Bebel, a tough-talking prostitute who always looked out for herself but had a weakness for her scheming john (Olavo), became a pop culture phenomenon. As far as novelas go, it doesn't get any better than her.