Are Globo's telenovelas with their back turned to Brazil?

I saw the ending of the telenovela “EM FAMÍLIA” which ends in a classical music concert in PARIS.

I do not think the FRENCH TOURIST AGENCY could have done a better job at promoting tourism to the French capital. Since the telenovelas are often sold to DOZENS OF COUNTRIES, I am sure Paris will see a boost of tourism.

Why is not a BRAZILIAN DESTINATION featured? There are plenty of chique, luxurious and sophisticated ones.

Why not pick a luxurious resort in the Brazilian northeast such as Trancoso, BA, why not feature Campos do Jordão, SP or the charming town of Lavras Novas, MG?

(And if they think there is no equal to “Paris” in Brazil for the purpose of a romantic ending in this telenovela, then this is marvellous opportunity to CREATE / DEVELOP A BRAND.   Hollywood at some point in time was also just a sleepy Californian town.)

If you do it well, you might find THOUSANDS OF CHINESE TOURISTS wanting to visit this or that brazilian destination, featured this or that telenovela.

Same thing for FOOD.   Why not feature people consuming Brazilian food (like PÃO DE QUEIJO) and drinking GUARANÁ?   This would also be an opportunity to popularize uniquely Brazilian brands in Brazil and abroad.

But instead the rich main characters in the telenovelas live in NORTH-AMERICAN STYLE HOUSES, dress like NORTH-AMERICANS, live in MIAMI if the really have enough money, and travel to EUROPE whenever they can.

It almost gets to point of BRAINWASHING Brazilians into believing that: The richer and more sophisticated you are, the less Brazilian want to be and the less you want to have to do with Brazil.

But all this is also true in general, valueing foreign culture and overlooking local culture is also true when it comes to the SOUNDTRACKS.

Take for example the telenovela “CORDEL ENCANTADO”, a French/Northeastern (nordestina) fairytale.

The (Brazilian) soundtrack features songs by Brazilian artists, many of them Northeastern. But it is definitely NOT REPRESENTATIVE of Northeastern music in any way:

1) The artists are often more "neutral" Brazilian artists, guitarists and singers, with an affinity with more international musical genres such as ROCK, JAZZ and BLUES (take Lenine, Maria Gadú and Zé Ramalho for example).

2) And most importantly, where is the ACCORDION?

If there is an instrument that REPRESENTS Northeastern music, then it is the ACCORDION. But there are only TWO soundtracks out of SIXTEEN that feature the accordion:

a. Saga of Felipe Catto (which is by the way a tango!) and

b. Xamego of Luiz Gonzaga - after all he COULD NOT BE COMPLETELY IGNORED...

The Northeast has a great number of marvellous accordion players, from DOMINGUINHOS to Mestrinho, from Oswaldinho to MENINÃO.

WHERE IS THEIR MUSIC ON THIS ALBUM?

ANY ONE OF THEM is more representative of Northeastern music than 90% of the artists on that album together!

What is even worse, when it comes to the INTERNATIONAL SOUNDTRACKS, often any little bit of genuine Brazilian music (that could identify the telenovela as being Brazilian) is removed.

Take for example FLOR DO CARIBE, which only features English and Spanish songs in its international version!

If it is sold to SPANISH speaking countries, why would the viewers prefer an ENGLISH song to a Brazilian song?

If it is sold to ENGLISH speaking countries, why would the viewers prefer an SPANISH song to a Brazilian song?

And in ANY OTHER foreign country it makes EVEN LESS SENSE to swap Portuguese language songs for English and Spanish ones.

The bottom line is:   WHY IS GLOBO SO AFRAID OF BEING BRAZILIAN OR TO SHOW THE REAL BRAZILIAN CULTURE TO PEOPLE?