Brazil's Life-Changing Telenovelas

Telenovelas as a staple of Latin American television watching. Unlike American series that run as long as possible [some beyond their welcome], telenovelas are timed-fixed - usually 8 months - nightly serials that usually portray that over-indulgent and over-sexed [assuming there is such a thing] of the elite in whatever respective country the novela is broadcast in.

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[The classical look of suspense. From Brazil's Tres Irmas. Source: Globo.com]

Many people - particularly Americans - mock the novelas for vapidness and lack of subtly even in comparison with America's own ridiculous soap operas.

But two recent studies [“Television and Divorce: Evidence from Brazilian Novelas,” by Alberto Chong and Eliana La Ferrara (January 2009) and “Soap Operas and Fertility: Evidence from Brazil,” by Eliana La Ferrara, Alberto Chong and Suzanne Duryea (October 2008).] as reported by The Economist actually report that telenovelas serve a purpose more than just playing on the desires of viewers, but may be seen as a form of feminism.

The studies sought to discern if Brazil's telenovelas had an affect on popular culture. Using data on television sales and the expansion of Globo's [Brazil main telenovela broadcaster] novelas into homes, they found a correlation between a decline in reproduction and a rise in divorce with the telenovelas.

As women watched empowered women nightly in the novelas, many Brazil themselves were empowered. And independent women are often put off children to a later date due to ambitions.

"The papers argue that the small, happy families portrayed on television contributed to this trend. Controlling for other factors, the arrival of Globo was associated with a decline of 0.6 percentage points in the probability of a woman giving birth in a given year. That is equivalent to the drop in the birth rate associated with a woman having two extra years of schooling."

Hum? Book equal to telenovelas?

Further, independent are less likely to put up with shiftless or abusive, or both husbands.

"The researchers found that between 1975, when divorce was first mooted, and 1984 about one in five of the main characters in Globo soaps were divorced or separated, a higher percentage than in the real Brazil. These break-ups were not just a result of machismo: from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s about 30% of female lead characters in novelas were unfaithful to their partners. The researchers find that the arrival of Globo in an area was associated with a rise of 0.1-0.2 percentage points in the share of women aged 15-49 who were divorced or separated. The authors reckon that watching “empowered” women having fun in Rio made other women (a few of them anyway) more independent."

But sometimes the husband is fine, but the women just refuses to settle down and opts to continue to play the scene.

All this contributes to a decline in domestic violence.

Who ever said television was a great "wasteland"?