In the hands of Aguinaldo Silva, Felix would return to the closet.
Suddenly the soap opera “Amor à Vida” by Walcyr Carrasco It took everyone by surprise, and made unimaginable advances in the discussion about homosexuality. In the past, novelists accustomed to repeating the mantra “society is not prepared” refused the right of LGBTs to see themselves represented in the most watched TV product. But after Felix and Niko's kiss, nothing could be the same as before.
Much was demanded of Manuel Carlos and he found a “Leblon” way to include the new demand, with beautiful, thin, chic and… lesbian women, and society didn’t freak out.
Then it was time to Aguinaldo Silva and his “Empire”.
Crazy for a good fight, especially with the LGBT community via social media, the author from Pernambuco, who had already said that gay kisses “would only be allowed in his house and not on TV”, caused astonishment when he announced that his soap opera would have five gay characters and several kisses: “Not just one, and in the last chapter”, he said, clearly provoking his disaffection Walcyr Carrasco and filling with hope those who believe that Rede Globo’s soap operas can help in the fight against homophobia.
The plot began and the five characters were there. It was them, the married ceremonialist and in the closet Claudio Bolgari (played by the master catcher of the soap operas Jose Mayer, a choice that marked a controversy in itself and that greatly helped the publicity of the soap opera) and her lover Léo (played by the handsome Klebber Toledo). Xana Summer (Ailton Graça), a street-smart transvestite, a hairdresser who knew how to defend herself, did drag shows and was a typical figure from the outskirts. A gossipy, affected and malicious blog named Theo Pereira (Paulo Betti) who would have a torrid affair with the fifth character: Robertão (Romulo Neto) declared gay-for-pay, who could count on the support of his liberal and ambitious parents.
In the beginning, Xana was dying of lust for Erivaldo; Théo by Robertão
In the first chapters, Robertão refused to be with a blonde on the beach, making it clear that his interest was not in women and devised a plan to “conquer” the wealthy Théo. Léo sighed with passion, as did his older lover Claudio, who made declarations of eternal love to him (without first paying his bills and leaving money in his jeans pocket). Xana was dying of lust for Erivaldo (Rafael Losso) and even almost grabbed the cook Vicente (Rafael Cardoso) in a dream.
But the author's confusion and lack of tact in writing scenes with this theme began to push the characters back towards the closet. And the expectations of those who supported the broad discussion about the desires of homosexuality and its plurality of types, gradually became just another disappointment.
The problems began, or as Aguinaldo himself said “the plot deviations”:
Robertão, after several well-paid stripteases for Théo, bouts of jealousy and fear of losing the blogger's attention to another guy, met journalist Érica (Letícia Birkheuer) and simply forgot his former sexuality. In addition to looking for a job, he became a good character, insinuating that he was “fixed” by straight love.
The hairdresser who was called “A Xana” and who drooled over the bars of Santa Tereza, never came close to Erivaldo again, started to be mentioned in the men's list out of nowhere, started to feel jealous of Naná's manicurist (Viviane Araujo) and (surprisingly!) said he was just a crossdresser who doesn't like men. In other words, reproducing that old thought that effeminate gays are court jesters, available to listen and make straight people laugh with deep lives of their own. It is planned that the Danna Summer cover will form a family with Naná, complete with an adopted child, pregnancy in the final minutes of the serial and intense sex.
The evil Théo Pereira entered along the same path, who was dying of desire for Robertão, but now he is just trying to boycott his modeling career, he is far from having a romance in the plot, he lives alone, without family, without friends, without exercising his sexuality, a recluse and almost always in a dark apartment full of junk, a (veiled) threat to queers who “dare” to grow old.
Theo will also be judged, and will die in the soap opera, rehashing the much-worn hook of “Who Killed…?” and the audience will say “well done”!
Considered the great couple, Claudio and Léo did not kiss
But, nothing frustrates more than the fate given so far to the couple Claudio and Léo, especially due to their overvaluation in the media before the serial began, and the expectations created and propagated upon the characters: The highly publicized kiss that would take place during the introduction of the characters became a big hug. The “second kiss” appeared from behind and through a camera viewfinder. Two others were reportedly recorded and not aired. Aguinaldo complained about censorship, but Globo management never confirmed that these scenes existed.
The lovers separated without any strong reason for so much love at the beginning, the young heartthrob was harassed by a famous filmmaker, showing once again that money “moves” the gay world and fell into depression. Incredibly, he never found a miserable job again and when he did, he was kicked out because his gay affair was exposed on the internet. His punishment for having lived this love is in the next chapters to become a beggar, classically reminiscent of the path of gay characters from the 70s and 80s in television drama and cinema, where they died tragically or suffered the devil's bread until they found a savior. to get them out of the ordeal, in the case of the 9 o'clock plot, there is a risk of it being Amanda (Adriana Birolli) who already accepts him as bisexual and they even had sex in a furtive meeting. If Léo doesn’t “become” straight, perhaps he will become an example that being gay isn’t “worth it”.
With the worst possible expectations, the LGBT communities fear that with a simple soap opera, written by an open homosexual, we will take the path back to the closet, we will lose what Walcyr Carrasco achieved within the traditional family that watches and lives the soap operas and that finds their gay loved ones, and become the biggest disservice of recent times in the country's television drama, showing that quantity, in addition to not being a guarantee of quality, is even more likely to make a bad mistake. We can say that if Amor à Vida was written by Aguinaldo Silva, Carneirinho would marry Amarillys in the end (Danielle Winits) and Caesar (Antonio Fagundes) would drive Felix's wheelchair. And the word would come to an end, leaving everything as it is.
Valter Vanir is a journalist and film, TV and theater critic.
