ABSTRACT
In the last few decades Brazilian and Mexican telenovelas, and to a lesser extent Venezuelan, Colombian and those produced in other Latin American countries, have been widely exported. Brazilian telenovelas have been aired-in dubbed and, sometimes, in edited versions-in more than 130 countries (Allen, 1995; Sinclair, 1996; Straubhaar, 1996). This international presence has challenged the traditional debate over cultural imperialism and the North-South flow of media products (Sinclair, 1996; 2003). Robert Evans has gone as far as to say that the export of telenovelas across the globe by Brazil can be viewed as an extension of cultural imperialism ‘with Brazil surreptitiously spreading the United States culture to its audiences worldwide’ (Evans, 2005).
