About

Carminha is the main villain in the 2012 Brazilian telenovela Avenida Brasil, produced by TV Globo and originally broadcast in 2012. The character, who is portrayed by Brazilian actress Adriana Esteves, has been the subject of various memes, GIFs and other formats online since her debut. Her memorable quotes and facial expressions are often used as image macro memes on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Origin

Carmen Lúcia Moreira de Souza Araújo, better known as Carminha (shown below), is the main antagonist character of the Avenida Brasil^[1] telenovela. She is played by Brazilian actress Adriana Esteves and has appeared on screen since the first episode of the telenovela aired on March 26th, 2012.

The villain is often considered one of the most popular telenovela characters in Brazil. Her backstory begins in the '70s when Carminha was only 1 year old. After her mother's death, she was abandoned by her father in a dumping ground where she was raised by Nilo. Decades later, she orchestrated the death of her husband and dumped her stepdaughter (Rita, the main character) out of the house in the same place she was left by her father (the dumping ground).

Spread

Online, although the character was typically hated throughout the entirety of the telenovela's airing, she amassed an expressive fandom among viewers over the years, appearing in viral clips, fan art, GIFs and memes.

For instance, the moment the main character started her revenge against the villain Carminha, the clip was reposted on Twitter^[2] by user @forumpandlr on July 24th, 2022. The video (shown below) garnered over 15,800 likes and 1,600 retweets in a year.

"Boa noite, Dona Carminha!". Há exatos 10 anos, o país parava para assistir o início da vingança de Nina contra Carminha em 'Avenida Brasil'. Lembra onde estava nesse dia?pic.twitter.com/QtPB4ed0Ok

— PAN (@forumpandlr) July 25, 2022

Fan Art

Carminha has also been frequently depicted in various fan art creations since her debut. For example, on May 11th, 2014, DeviantArt user @katyvirus posted fan art inspired by the villain. The post (shown below) garnered over 670 views and eight favorites in nine years.

Related memes

Carminha Screaming Hell

On October 2nd, 2012, the episode in which Tufão, the villain's husband, finds out she is giving money to Max, her lover, first aired on television. In one particular scene, Carminha is desperate trying to convince her husband that nothing happened but it's too late and she starts screaming in front of his car. On April 23rd, 2020, a clip was uploaded on YouTube^[3] by user @alysss showing the villain screaming "hell!", which garnered 72,000 views and 829 likes in three years.

On May 1st, 2021, YouTube^[4] user @BREN__ uploaded the same scene in six different languages. The post (shown below) amassed 1.4 million views and 89,000 likes in two years.

Toca Pro Inferno, Motorista / Let's Go To Hell, Driver

On August 8th, 2012, the telenovela aired a scene showing villain Carminha, who is very drunk, taking a ride on a garbage truck and ending up at the dumpster ground, to which she says the memorable quote “Let's go to hell, driver," referring to the dumpsters. YouTube^[5] user @DodiQueijinho1 posted a clip of the scene on April 25th, 2015, garnering 61,000 views and 749 likes in eight years. (shown below)

The scene became a popular image macro meme, used in situations about going to school or to work. For example, IFunny^[6] user @DankCryBaby_2019 posted a still image of the scene paired with the text overlay "Me going to class/work in the morning." The post (shown below) received 17 reactions in four years.

Me Serve, Vadia! / Serve Me, Bitch!

On July 24th, 2012, the quote "Serve me, bitch" was said by the main character Nina while she was torturing Carminha, the villain. The phrase exploded on social media and, even before the chapter of Avenida Brasil ended, it had already become a meme on the internet. For instance, YouTube^[7] user @biruleiby007 uploaded the scene (shown below) on July 27th, 2012, garnering 58,000 views and 572 likes in 11 years.

On May 10th, 2020, Tenor^[8] user @lukmarc uploaded a GIF (shown below) of the scene.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References