Given the paucity of up-to-date academic works that specifically interrogate the subject of ethnic representation within the all-pervasive phenomenon of the telenovela in Brazil, the publication of Samantha Nogueira Joyce's book Brazilian Telenovelas and the Myth of Racial Democracy is to be welcomed. This study sets out to explore a particular example of this television genre, Duas Caras (TV Globo, 2007–8), which openly tackled matters of race and racism in contemporary Brazil in its storyline and dialogue. This was the first prime-time novela in Brazil to have an Afro-Brazilian lead protagonist (Evilásio, played by well-known TV and film actor Lázaro Ramos), and its author, Aguinaldo Silva, wrote a blog during the run of the programme in which he directly engaged with its fans and critics, particularly with regard to the reactions provoked by its treatment of racial questions. Joyce's book sets out to illustrate how race and race relations were negotiated in the novela, and in Brazilian society more broadly, during the programme's typical eight-month duration, via Silva's blog and public engagement with it as well as media criticism and commentary in general. Joyce claims that her study ‘tracks the dynamic process through which Duas Caras worked to debunk the ideology of racial democracy in Brazil once and for all’ (p. 2). This is a very ambitious claim, and overall the book fails to live up to the expectations that such statements raise. It does, however, make a useful contribution to the existing bibliography, in spite of a problematic writing style and unwieldy presentation at times, as outlined below.

The crux of Joyce's argument is that in Duas Caras Silva uses ethnic stereotypes in a productive way, namely to provoke a reaction among the audience and promote wider social discourse about race. She gives several useful examples of how the author has a track record of courting controversy, and she makes it clear that ‘the main focus here is not to judge whether or not blacks were correctly represented on the program or whether or not TV Globo telenovelas are racist, but in fact to show how a television program can contribute to a metadiscourse about race and racism in contemporary Brazil’ (p. 55). Joyce amply illustrates the peculiar mechanics of the creative process that gives rise to this genre, using the idea of ‘open texts’ that are ‘constructed through a social dialogue between producers, consumers, and a broad range of social actors’ (p. 3). She shows how audience responses to characters, storylines and issues raised inform the very content of the novela, as the author, writing future episodes as others are being aired, tailors his product accordingly. Joyce's exploration of the concept and practice of ‘social merchandising’, whereby topical issues and social themes are deliberately woven into the storylines and dialogue to serve a didactic function, is equally illuminating. By examining excerpts from Silva's blog and public and media reactions to Duas Caras, she shows how so-called ‘entertainment-education’ can trigger debate and potentially prompt changes in social discourse and behaviour. She quite rightly also alludes to the more cynical motives behind such content, although more could be said about TV Globo's wider quest to combine commercial success with a perceived social responsibility, particularly as regards the issue of ethnic representation.

In addition, Joyce helpfully contextualises this novela and its deliberately provocative treatment of cross-racial romance – which involves the rehashing of hackneyed ethnic stereotypes and racist dialogue – within the history of the representation of Afro-Brazilians in novelas. She provides a historical overview of the ideologies of branqueamento (whitening) and racial democracy, tracing their shifting trajectories and bringing the issues right up to date by exploring recent developments regarding affirmative action policies, particularly racial quotas in public universities. The latter form an important backdrop to the reactions sparked by Duas Caras in terms of the issues surrounding race in Brazil; as Joyce argues, ‘the fictional story contributed to the current discussions of race, racism, and affirmative action policies, such as quotas in Brazilian media, law, politics, and society at large. As exemplified by the viewers’ responses to the author's blog (over seven hundred comments for each post) as well as the many discussions in various media – talk shows, newspapers, and so on – a telenovela, as well as literature, has the capacity to intervene in history, to help construct it’ (p. 30). Whilst I think it may be overstating the case to say that Duas Caras helped construct history, Joyce illustrates, by bringing together various print and electronic media sources, how it undoubtedly placed the question of race at the centre of the everyday discussions among ordinary people that the omnipresent novelas generate in Brazilian society at all levels.

It is a pity that poor proofreading and inadequate polishing of ‘thesis speak’ let this study down. Its subject matter is important, and its approach is original. For the most part Brazilian Telenovelas and the Myth of Racial Democracy reads like a thinly veiled postgraduate dissertation, overly explaining and defending its chosen methodologies, as well as its academic contribution to various disciplines. The prose is consequently rather laboured and the book's structure somewhat repetitive, making for difficult reading at times. There are also inconsistent or inelegant Portuguese translations. I will nevertheless include this book in the bibliography on the Brazilian telenovela that I provide for my undergraduate students, as it makes some useful contributions to our knowledge and thus complements the existing sources on the subject.