The short story goes… a Brazilian TV network remake of a Mexican soap opera is causing a bit of a stir amongst blacks in Brazils.

The original show was called Carrossel – a drama about the day-to-day at an elementary school, which featured a storyline that centered on a poor black boy and his love for a rich white girl.

The problem? The story is the same in the Brazilian remake, with Cirilo, the poor black boy in the remake, constantly chasing after this rich white girl, who doesn't like him at all, and continuously rejects his advances because of his both black and poor. But despite the white girl's constant rejection, at times humiliating, he continues to pursue her, seemingly not learning any lessons from his past exchanges with her, and thus the audience not really learning anything either.

That's the argument that journalist and activist for the Brazilian Afroatitudes blog, Daniela Gomes is making, and she penned a piece addressing this, calling what's happening on the TV show, "Cirilo’s Syndrome."

Gomes (who is black) is concerned about, as the Afro-Europe blog puts it, the negative impact she feels that the humiliation of a little black boy in a Prime Time TV show, without any kind of reaction from him how on to combat racism, will have on the ongoing fight against racism in Brazil.

I embedded a clip from the show below; to read Gomes' full article, and more of the story, head on over to the Afro-Europe blog HERE.

Here's a clip from the Brazilian series; and underneath you'll find a clip from the original Mexican show.