"Let’s play the glad game!"
As Aventuras de Poliana("The Adventures of Poliana" in English) is a soap opera adaptation from Brazil of the classic book Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter that was adapted by Iris Abravanel and produced by SBT, this series premiered during May 16, 2018 and ran until July 13, 2020, with 564 episodes which makes it one of the longest kid soap operas by surpassing Chiquititas 2013.
Although the main story remains mostly the same – a young girl with a sunny personality resides in her rich aunt’s house after the death of her parents and tries to win her own aunt and other people’s heart by playing the glad game – there were made MANY changes to fit today’s standards and a lot of subplots and new characters were added as well, including more current themes such as equality and technology.
The series also got a sequel in March 21, 2022 named Poliana Moça which was based on the sequel book Pollyanna Grows Up, said series ended in May 24, 2023.
This telenovela has the following tropes:
- Abusive Parents: João’s foster father Tião is very abusive and cruel to his own son. It’s also later revealed that he’s not João’s biological father.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Although Mr. Pendleton was never exactly ugly, he is often described as an average looking old man, however, in this series, he IS rather handsome himself and looks a bit younger too.
- Adaptational Backstory Change:
- Poliana is now a daughter of two stage performers instead of a widowed male missionary and her dad teaches her the glad game after she feels upset by her doll not having a leg instead of getting a pair of crutches.
- João’s backstory is also very different in this series too, in the book, he was an orphan with no parents while here, he has a stereotypically abusive father and a submissive mother, which leads to him running away from home to pursue his dream of becoming a singer.
- Adaptational Diversity: the book had an all white cast which is justified by the setting it takes place while this series has more people of color on it and even has a prominent black family too.
- Adaptational Name Change:
- Pollyanna is now named Poliana.
- Jimmy Bean is now named João.
- Aunt Polly is now named Aunt Luisa.
- Nancy is now named Nanci.
- John Pendleton is now named Otto Pendleton.
- Adaptational Personality Change: A mild example with Poliana, although she still remains a Plucky Girl with the desire of changing everyone for the better, this series makes her more of a Socially Awkward Hero and a Cute Clumsy Girl who is often subjected to humiliations and is far more emotional and sensitive than most interpretations of the character.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Poliana and Mr. Pedlenton were nothing more than just good friends in the book but this series emphasize their friendship a lot more to the point it becomes a father and daughter relationship. It’s not helped by the fact that it’s later revealed that Mr. Pendleton IS Poliana’s biological father.
- Alpha Bitch: Filipa Pessoa is a typical mean girl who is obsessed with beauty and popularity.
- Canon Foreigner: Many characters that were created in this series didn’t exist in the book, the most notable examples are the mean girl Filipa, Poliana’s other friends Kessya and Luigi, Luisa’s Temporary Love Interest Afonso, the Evil Teacher Debora and the mysterious Waldisney who happens to be Nanci’s boyfriend.
- Characterization Marches On:
- Raquel is the biggest example, she’s initially depicted as a shy but sarcastic girl who likes drawing and happens to be a good student but in later episodes, she becomes far more rebellious and defiant to the point there’s an entire arc solely dedicated to that.
- Mrs. Branca is at first a very whiny and crabby old lady but defrosts much later on thanks to Poliana’s glad game.
- For Happiness: Just like in the book, Poliana likes everyone and wants them to be happy.
- Love Triangle:
- Between the adults: Luisa, Marcelo and Afonso, at least in the beginning.
- Between the teenagers: Raquel, Guilherme and Mirela are this at first but the latter is replaced by Brenda after she develops feelings towards Luca Tuber and Brenda herself stops caring about Guilherme after she starts dating Jeff.
- Between the kids: Poliana, João and Filipa are a more textbook example.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The sensitive and nerdy movie buff Luigi and tough as nail João.
- Stay in the Kitchen: In the beginning, Mario and the twins Gael and Benicio have a mystery club but they don’t let Lorena join simply because she’s a girl, things get better for Lorena, though.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Lorena is the nature loving and bug collector tomboy to Raquel’s quieter and more bookish girly girl in the earliest episodes.
The sequel series Poliana Moça has the following tropes:
- Astro Clone: Pinóquio resembles way more another certain robot kid character than the character he’s supposed to be based on.
- Canon Discontinuity: To the point that the trailers for the movie doesn’t show or mention the events of this continuation.
- Girliness Upgrade: Lorena becomes much girlier after Helena starts mocking her for being too "childish".
- Killed Off for Real: Marcelo ends up dying much later on because of a Covid-19 esque illness called "Heptavirus".
- Love Triangle: Even more so than in the first series, with Poliana having two Love Interests: her best friend João and former school bully Eric.
- Remember the New Guy?: Pinóquio is a robot puppet that was created by Mr. Pendleton’s father, however, he wasn’t mentioned or even shown in the first series like at all.
- Robot Kid: Pinóquio fits this trope since he’s a robot with puppet like features who behaves like a human child.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Pinóquio himself, the series is supposed to be about Poliana and her going through typical teen girl issues but Pinóquio usually takes a far more active role than her and most of the ongoing plots tend to be about him.
