''América'' is a Brazilian telenovela that aired on

TV Globo TV Globo (stylized as tvglobo; , ), formerly known as Rede Globo de Televisão (; shortened to Rede Globo) or simply known as Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto M ...

from 14 March 2005 to 4 November 2005. It is written by

Glória Perez Glória Maria Rebelo Ferrante (; born 25 September 1948) is a Brazilian screenwriter. Biography Born in Rio de Janeiro, Federal District of Brazil, Gloria is the daughter of lawyer Miguel Jeronimo Ferrante, Italian descendant, and teacher ...

and directed by Jayme Monjardim and Marcos Schechtman. The telenovela focused on the life of an

illegal immigrant Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...

to the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

and the lives of those she left behind in Brazil. It stars

Deborah Secco Deborah Fialho Secco (born 26 November 1979) is a Brazilian actress. She became known in 1994 as one of the protagonists of the teen series Confissões de Adolescente. On television, she played successful characters such as Íris in '' Laços ...

and Murilo Benício. In the United States,

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It provides content ...

aired a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

- dubbed version of ''América'' in 2009.

Plot

Main plot

Sol and Tião are born to different social backgrounds—she to a poor suburban family in Rio, and him to an even poorer family who raised cattle in West

São Paulo State SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Serb Autonomous Regions (''Srpska autonomna oblast'', SAO), during the breakup of ...

. They eventually meet, due to unlikely circumstances, but part again, as she has set as her ultimate priority to reach the United States or bust. While she comes to the U.S. to live as an illegal immigrant, he remains in Brazil and, despite many trials and tribulations, he becomes a successful

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaqu ...

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...

Subplots

''América'' has several secondary plots about a variety of compelling characters. These, for the most part, take place in four locales: Vila Isabel, a middle-class neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro; Boiadeiros, a fictional town in West São Paulo State; the home of a rich family in Rio; and

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. Various characters from each subplots often meet each other due to character linkages within the story. The main subplots were: * A love triangle involving Feitosa, a man who worked with pets, his girlfriend Islene (who happened to have a blind daughter from a previous relationship) and Creusa (a virginal woman who turned out to be too lustful). * The problems and achievements of a blind man, Jatobá, trying to live with his disability in a country with no infrastructure for the visually impaired. He is engaged to a non-blind woman. * The mischievous Alex and Djanira, smugglers and "coyotes". * The love life of Glauco, a 50-year-old businessman married to a

kleptomaniac Kleptomania is the inability to resist the urge to steal items, usually for reasons other than personal use or financial gain. First described in 1816, kleptomania is classified in psychiatry as an impulse-control disorder. Some of the main cha ...

woman that strives for a divorce in order to marry her lover (but he later leaves both for a 19-year-old girl). * The complicated relationship between a middle-class American professor, Edward Talbot, and his rich girlfriend, May, who does social work at a ghetto school in Miami. Due to fan demand, the author of the soap opera changed its ending so Edward ends up marrying the main character, Sol. * The lives of several illegal immigrants living in a

boarding house A boarding house is a house (frequently a family home) in which lodging, lodgers renting, rent one or more rooms on a nightly basis and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months, or years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and ...

in Miami kept by a Mexican woman, with Brazilian roots, named Consuelo. * The thriving Brazil rodeo culture. Rodeo is a traditional sport in many countries in

the Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.'' Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sin ...

, with influences from the history of Mexican and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian ''

vaquero The ''vaquero'' (; , ) is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in what what is today Mexico (then New Spain) and Spanish Florida from a method brought to the Americ ...

s'' or ''vaqueiros'' (cowboys) and American cowboys.

Cast

Reception

Ratings

Music

Unlike most Brazilian soap operas, ''América'' featured different styles of music for each milieu. Vila Isabel had only traditional

samba Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...

, other parts of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

included Brazilian pop and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

, São Paulo was scored with Brazilian

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

and Miami, with a mix of American pop and Latin music. The songs used in ''América'' are: *Disco 1 01. "Soy Loco por Ti América" - Ivete Sangalo 02. "Até Pensei" -

Nana Caymmi Dinahir Tostes Caymmi (29 April 1941 – 1 May 2025), popularly known as Nana Caymmi (), was a Brazilian singer. Biography Caymmi was born in Rio de Janeiro, the daughter of Dorival Caymmi and Stella Maris (musician), Stella Maris. Her first ap ...

03. "A Volta" -

Roberto Carlos Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha (born 10 April 1973), often known as Roberto Carlos and sometimes ''RC3'', is a Brazilian former professional association football, footballer. He has been described as the "most offensive-minded left-back in the ...

04. "Pra Rua Me Levar" -

Ana Carolina Ana Carolina Sousa (, born September 9, 1974) is a Brazilian pop rock singer, songwriter and musician. Career Carolina has a contralto vocal range. Her musical influence comes from the crib, her grandmother used to sing on the radio, and her gre ...

05. "Feitiço da Vila" - Martinho da Vila 06. "Nervos de Aço" - Leonardo 07. "Mágoa de Boiadeiro" - Lourenço & Lourival 08. "Os Amantes" - Daniel 09. "Girassóis Azuis II" - George Israel 10. "Vida de Viajante" - Lenine 11. "She's a Carioca (Ela é Carioca)" - Celso Fonseca 12. "Você" - Marina Elali 13. "Um Matuto em New York" - Roberto Trevisan 14. "Sinfonia dos Sonhos" - Marcus Viana 15. "Órfãos do Paraíso" -

Milton Nascimento Milton Silva Campos do Nascimento (; born October 26, 1942), also known as Bituca, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Nascimento has recorded 32 studio albums and has won five Grammy Awards, including Best World Music ...

16. "Eu Sei que Vou te Amar" -

Caetano Veloso Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicália, which encompas ...

*Disco 2 1. "Regresa a mi" -

Il Divo Il Divo (; ) are a multinational classical crossover vocal group. Formed in the United Kingdom in 2003, it is a male quartet that was created and then promoted by British media magnate Simon Cowell for Syco Music, a record label that he had ...

2. " Don't" -

Shania Twain Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( ; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time and the best-sel ...

3. "

Home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or more human occupants, and sometimes various companion animals. Homes provide sheltered spaces, for instance rooms, where domestic activity can be p ...

" -

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Regarded as a pop icon, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American ...

4. "Abrazame Así" - Tamara 5. "Amore e Música" -

Russell Watson Russell Watson (born 24 November 1966) is an English crossover/popular singer, almost in the tenor range, who has released singles and albums of both quasi-operatic-style and pop songs. He began singing as a child, and became known after per ...

6. " The Look of Love" -

Diana Krall Diana Jean Krall (born November 16, 1964) is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, including over six million in the US. On December 11, 2009, ''Billboard (magazi ...

7. " Summertime" -

Michael Bolton Michael Bolotin (born February 26, 1953), known professionally as Michael Bolton, is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton performed in the hard rock and heavy metal music genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, both on his early solo a ...

8. "A Horse with no Name" -

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

9. " Redneck Woman" -

Gretchen Wilson Gretchen Frances Wilson (born June 26, 1973, in Pocahontas, Illinois) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She made her debut in March 2004 with the Grammy Awards, Grammy Award-winning single "Redneck Woman", a number-one hit on th ...

10. " Pieces of Me" -

Ashlee Simpson Ashley Nicolle Ross-Næss ( Simpson; born October 3, 1984), also known as Ashlee Simpson, is an American singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. The younger sister of singer and actress Jessica Simpson, she began her career as ...

11. "Por un Beso" -

Gloria Estefan Gloria María Milagrosa Estefan (; ; born September 1, 1957) is an American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is an eight-time Grammy Awards, Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been named one of t ...

12. "Cancion Mixteca" - Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan 13. " Besame Mucho" -

Maysa Maysa Figueira Monjardim (June 6, 1936 – January 22, 1977), better known as Maysa Matarazzo, was a Brazilian singer-songwriter, performer and actress. She is also associated with Bossa nova music but is widely known as a torch song (''fossa ...

14. "Wind Shaking the Trees" - Darwing James Band 15. "Long Long Away" - Jesse Johnson 17. "Can't Get Over" - Kasino 18. "

Breath Breathing (spiration or ventilation) is the neuroscience of rhythm, rhythmical process of moving air into (inhalation) and out of (exhalation) the lungs to facilitate gas exchange with the Milieu intérieur, internal environment, mostly to flu ...

" - O2 19. "Little Girl" - Lucas Babin 20. "

Take Me Home, Country Roads "Take Me Home, Country Roads", also known simply as "Country Roads", is a song written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert and John Denver. It was released as a single performed by Denver on April 12, 1971, peaking at number two on ''Billboard''s U ...

" -

Happening A happening is a performance, event, or situation art, usually as performance art. The term was first used by Allan Kaprow in 1959 to describe a range of art-related events. History Origins Allan Kaprow first coined the term "happening" i ...

Controversy

Gay kiss deleted scene

While being cited as a pop culture phenomenon previously, the soap opera received greater exposure in the media after a long-running (2005) storyline between two

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

characters included a scene in which they share a kiss. The scene was scheduled to be air in the final episode, which created much anticipation from the

gay community The LGBTQ community (also known as the LGBT, LGBT+, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA, LGBTQIA+, or queer community) comprises LGBTQ individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individua ...

in Brazil. However,

Rede Globo TV Globo (stylized as tvglobo; , ), formerly known as Rede Globo de Televisão (; shortened to Rede Globo) or simply known as Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965 ...

, the soap opera's production company, elected not to run the scene, much to the surprise of the writers, fans and actors involved. The event led to a number of protests for equal rights, condemning Globo for their actions.

Criticism of the positive portrayal of rodeo

Brazilian

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have Moral patienthood, moral worth independent of their Utilitarianism, utility to humans, and that their most basic interests—such as ...

organizations criticized the telenovela because rodeo was favorably exposed in the story. Several non-large-scale protests happened in several cities and activists tried to exhort a nationwide boycott campaign against the series. Coincidentally, the series faced a decline of its audience, though that was not attributed to a boycott eventually.

References

External links

*
Blog de Telenovelas Brasileiras

Video Blog de la novela ''América'' en español

Telenovela-World Bi-lingual Forum
{{DEFAULTSORT:America (Brazilian TV series) 2005 telenovelas 2005 Brazilian television series debuts 2005 Brazilian television series endings TV Globo telenovelas Television shows set in Rio de Janeiro (city) Television shows set in Miami Brazilian LGBTQ-related television shows Works about illegal immigration to the United States Telenovelas by Glória Perez Gay-related television shows Portuguese-language telenovelas Portuguese-language television in the United States LGBTQ telenovelas