During its final years, USSR began opening its markets for foreign goods (perestroika), and this included cultural imports. In 1988, Soviet television began airing for the first time a soap opera, the Brazilian telenovela Escrava Isaura (Рабыня Изаура, in Russian), which became incredibly popular in the Soviet society, with themes regarding black slavery in Brazilian colonial times. The telenovela was such a success that on the day that the final episode was to be aired, the Russian parliament ended its session earlier so its congressmen could go to their homes and watch the episode. The names of the characters also became a popular choice for babies at that time: Изаура (Isaura) and Леонсио (Leôncio).
Brazil and Mexico were (and still are) the two major telenovela producing countries in Latin America and they exported them to the entire Eastern Europe, from the late 80s up to mid-2000s, with productions like La Usurpadora (Узурпаторша) and O Clone (Клон).
Fun fact, Escrava Isaura was also very popular in Africa, specially among a community in Benin called the Agudá, descendants of black Brazilians who migrated to Africa in the 19th century (Brazilian version of the Americo-Liberians, but without the government promoting it). Since the plot directly dealt with that community’s origins, it became a cultural landmark and several families used it as reference for how to dress “properly” as Afro-Brazilians, an important cultural marker of that community. Here’s a paper about it https://www.scielo.br/j/hcsm/a/vtXQvFkGbHFSHQhs5BQv3rs/?format=html&lang=pt
Fun fact. Here in México, for esclava isaura, the voice of leoncio was given by the same actor of goku, Mario castañeda. So there are memes of goku saying "así me gustan, asustadas, muy asustadas" or "ven aquí negrita".
I tried looking this up and couldn't find anything about it... but I found out she turned down a special performance by Paul fucking McCartney for her birthday to watch it.
I will like to remind you that here in India in the 1980s, when the Ramayana was adapted into a TV series and aired by the state broadcaster Doordarshan, entire markets would shut down and streets would be practically deserted, if there was a power cut the local electricity office would get angry telephone calls with disgruntled people screaming expletives at them.
When the producer of the TV series did not adapt the last book of the Ramayana (which is an ancient Indian epic) due to limited budget, municipal workers of major cities went on strike, alongside other essential workers, which got so bad that the producer had to adapt the last book of the epic with the help of crowdfunding.
Bosnians held a protest in the 90s demanding that Kassandra (from the telenovela "Kassandra") be released from the prison that the writers of the show put her in.
There was something about a transitioning country and telenovelas which connected so well, but I don't really understand what the connection might be.
Both Brasilian and Mexican telenovelas were very popular in Serbia during the 90s, too.
Alongside mariachis, back before Yugoslavia disintegrated, Yugoslavs aparently loved mexican movies, "un día de vida" a movie about a mexican officer given one day more to visit his mom before his execution, was very, very popular there
Once I took a cab in New York and the driver was from Uzbekistan. When I told him I was Brazilian his face lightened up and he talked to me about the telenovela O Clone, which he said was popular there. Out of pocket cultural intersection is very fun indeed.
Still love Gabrijela Španjić. Marisol aired when I was in primary school.
One of the guys from one class in primary school had one of those digital watches that had a TV remote built in.
When Marisol finale was airing, by that time the dude had the frequency of the TV, and the finale aired during a break between classes. Cleaning ladies weren't too happy during that time, neither were some of the teachers.
Soviets were blocking US movies for years under pretense that they were kitsch and lacking any artistic value. Then 90s happened and they started gobbling down telenovelas like crazy. We associate USSR cinema with artsy directors, but in reality the average Soviet never cared about Tarkovsky or watched his movies.
Tldr: If the Soviets allowed US moves (very commercialized, but also decent quality), maybe their citizens would not get addicted to sh*tty telenovelas.
There really isn’t that much of a gab between US Hollywood slop and telenovelas, nowadays Korean and Turkish telenovelas are extremely popular in streaming services competing directly against expensive US productions, Hollywood is not inherently more popular if access to international productions is equalized.
Listen, im not a fan of telenovelas, but American TV, with few exceptions after the cold war, were pretty much toned down soap operas with laughter effects and unchanging sets, even now, stuff like The Wire, The Sopranos, Twin Peaks or Andor are few exceptions among and ocean of crap like Gray's Anatomy, True Blood, Big Bang Theory and so on,
That's not the point; the biggest absurdity was that with the introduction of foreign productions, the Soviets gained access to realities divergent from their own, and the idea of slavery in Soviet society was an almost impossible absurdity, so direct contact with it, combined with the drama, popularized the telenovela
"The idea of slavery in Soviet societ was a impossible absurdity".
Oh yes, please tell the several million people forced into slave labor in the Gulags that, I'm sure they would love to know their slavery is a impossibility
There's a huge difference between Forced labor to strengthen the economy through cheap labour, Traditional slavery In the West separated people based on color and ethnicity, And in Brazil (where the telenovela takes place) the way slaves could be treated was evident, just to remember that the Soviet Union preached being the liberator of oppressed peoples (although in practice as you said,they also practiced questionable methods)
There's literally no difference, it was a brutal slave systemas as bad as the Atlantic slave trade, specially in numbers. In a few decades more slaves had been forced to work for the communists slavers than were imported from Africa to the Americas in a full century. Not to mention the Gulags were overwhelmingly and disproportionately non-Russian, it was very much a system designed to enslave minorities under the guise of "strengthen the economy" (literally the same argument used by slavers in the Americas too).
Exactly, you're not wrong. At no point did I question the brutality of the gulags; what was "impossible" in Soviet territory was precisely to POSSESS slaves as a commodity where they could be traded, sold and bought
And I don't know if you've watched the telenovela in question, but the whole plot revolves around the enslaved woman BUYING her freedom; in the Soviet Union, being sent to the gulags was game over, there's no going back, besides the public didn't understand that; the propaganda said otherwise. Did gulags with slaves exist? Yes, but not in the way they were portrayed in entertainment
During its final years, USSR began opening its markets for foreign goods (perestroika), and this included cultural imports. In 1988, Soviet television began airing for the first time a soap opera, the Brazilian telenovela Escrava Isaura (Рабыня Изаура, in Russian), which became incredibly popular in the Soviet society, with themes regarding black slavery in Brazilian colonial times. The telenovela was such a success that on the day that the final episode was to be aired, the Russian parliament ended its session earlier so its congressmen could go to their homes and watch the episode. The names of the characters also became a popular choice for babies at that time: Изаура (Isaura) and Леонсио (Leôncio).
Brazil and Mexico were (and still are) the two major telenovela producing countries in Latin America and they exported them to the entire Eastern Europe, from the late 80s up to mid-2000s, with productions like La Usurpadora (Узурпаторша) and O Clone (Клон).
Sources
Fun fact, Escrava Isaura was also very popular in Africa, specially among a community in Benin called the Agudá, descendants of black Brazilians who migrated to Africa in the 19th century (Brazilian version of the Americo-Liberians, but without the government promoting it). Since the plot directly dealt with that community’s origins, it became a cultural landmark and several families used it as reference for how to dress “properly” as Afro-Brazilians, an important cultural marker of that community. Here’s a paper about it https://www.scielo.br/j/hcsm/a/vtXQvFkGbHFSHQhs5BQv3rs/?format=html&lang=pt
Fun fact. Here in México, for esclava isaura, the voice of leoncio was given by the same actor of goku, Mario castañeda. So there are memes of goku saying "así me gustan, asustadas, muy asustadas" or "ven aquí negrita".
Im sure Isaura wasnt popular cus if its humongous sex scenes.
Also "The Rich Also cry", " Wild Angel ".
As a Russian, can confirm
Humans are generally addicted to storytelling but parliament ending early for a soap opera is next level sht.
Queen Elizabeth was at a state dinner and wanted to leave in time to watch an episode of "Twin Peaks."
I tried looking this up and couldn't find anything about it... but I found out she turned down a special performance by Paul fucking McCartney for her birthday to watch it.
You would think the queen could have sprung for a VCR
I will like to remind you that here in India in the 1980s, when the Ramayana was adapted into a TV series and aired by the state broadcaster Doordarshan, entire markets would shut down and streets would be practically deserted, if there was a power cut the local electricity office would get angry telephone calls with disgruntled people screaming expletives at them.
When the producer of the TV series did not adapt the last book of the Ramayana (which is an ancient Indian epic) due to limited budget, municipal workers of major cities went on strike, alongside other essential workers, which got so bad that the producer had to adapt the last book of the epic with the help of crowdfunding.
So yeah.
I can’t wait for the upcoming Ramayana film, I’m interested to see if it generates a similar level of excitement
I think it wasn't as rare as you might think
Bosnians held a protest in the 90s demanding that Kassandra (from the telenovela "Kassandra") be released from the prison that the writers of the show put her in.
There was something about a transitioning country and telenovelas which connected so well, but I don't really understand what the connection might be.
Both Brasilian and Mexican telenovelas were very popular in Serbia during the 90s, too.
Alongside mariachis, back before Yugoslavia disintegrated, Yugoslavs aparently loved mexican movies, "un día de vida" a movie about a mexican officer given one day more to visit his mom before his execution, was very, very popular there
>popular in Serbia during the 90s
thats not a happy reference
Anywhere in the Eastern Europe/Balkans during the 90s is not a happy reference.
Sadly true
Once I took a cab in New York and the driver was from Uzbekistan. When I told him I was Brazilian his face lightened up and he talked to me about the telenovela O Clone, which he said was popular there. Out of pocket cultural intersection is very fun indeed.
O Clone mentioned 🫡🇧🇷🇲🇦
My childhood and “Escrava Isaura”. What a happy time!
My entire family is addicted to Soap operas nowadays.
Mostly Korean and Turkish ones.
Mexican and Brazilian Telenovelas were top.
Still love Gabrijela Španjić. Marisol aired when I was in primary school.
One of the guys from one class in primary school had one of those digital watches that had a TV remote built in.
When Marisol finale was airing, by that time the dude had the frequency of the TV, and the finale aired during a break between classes. Cleaning ladies weren't too happy during that time, neither were some of the teachers.
What about "el privilegio de amar"?
Some Albanians named their daughters Isaura after the protagonist of a Brazilian telenovela.
Tbf, the collapse of the Soviet Union was kind of a telenovela in and of itself
Mexico is another level because we also have theirs here in Brazil.
Soviets were blocking US movies for years under pretense that they were kitsch and lacking any artistic value. Then 90s happened and they started gobbling down telenovelas like crazy. We associate USSR cinema with artsy directors, but in reality the average Soviet never cared about Tarkovsky or watched his movies.
Tldr: If the Soviets allowed US moves (very commercialized, but also decent quality), maybe their citizens would not get addicted to sh*tty telenovelas.
There really isn’t that much of a gab between US Hollywood slop and telenovelas, nowadays Korean and Turkish telenovelas are extremely popular in streaming services competing directly against expensive US productions, Hollywood is not inherently more popular if access to international productions is equalized.
Listen, im not a fan of telenovelas, but American TV, with few exceptions after the cold war, were pretty much toned down soap operas with laughter effects and unchanging sets, even now, stuff like The Wire, The Sopranos, Twin Peaks or Andor are few exceptions among and ocean of crap like Gray's Anatomy, True Blood, Big Bang Theory and so on,
I read somewhere that Bollywood movies were popular in the USSR as well.
That's not the point; the biggest absurdity was that with the introduction of foreign productions, the Soviets gained access to realities divergent from their own, and the idea of slavery in Soviet society was an almost impossible absurdity, so direct contact with it, combined with the drama, popularized the telenovela
"The idea of slavery in Soviet societ was a impossible absurdity".
Oh yes, please tell the several million people forced into slave labor in the Gulags that, I'm sure they would love to know their slavery is a impossibility
There's a huge difference between Forced labor to strengthen the economy through cheap labour, Traditional slavery In the West separated people based on color and ethnicity, And in Brazil (where the telenovela takes place) the way slaves could be treated was evident, just to remember that the Soviet Union preached being the liberator of oppressed peoples (although in practice as you said,they also practiced questionable methods)
There's literally no difference, it was a brutal slave systemas as bad as the Atlantic slave trade, specially in numbers. In a few decades more slaves had been forced to work for the communists slavers than were imported from Africa to the Americas in a full century. Not to mention the Gulags were overwhelmingly and disproportionately non-Russian, it was very much a system designed to enslave minorities under the guise of "strengthen the economy" (literally the same argument used by slavers in the Americas too).
Exactly, you're not wrong. At no point did I question the brutality of the gulags; what was "impossible" in Soviet territory was precisely to POSSESS slaves as a commodity where they could be traded, sold and bought
And I don't know if you've watched the telenovela in question, but the whole plot revolves around the enslaved woman BUYING her freedom; in the Soviet Union, being sent to the gulags was game over, there's no going back, besides the public didn't understand that; the propaganda said otherwise. Did gulags with slaves exist? Yes, but not in the way they were portrayed in entertainment