FYOS - Telenovelas Spring 2021

 It is not out of the ordinary for students to choose Spanish as their language to learn throughout high school, but very few stick with it unless it is a requirement at their institution.  My passion for the language began in ninth grade, when I took Spanish 1. I remember learning the absolute basics: perro, gato, mujer, hombre, etc. I thought it would be a breeze since I knew Bulgarian, until the verb conjugations were introduced. As it got harder, my determination to learn grew more and more, and I promised myself I would never leave my studies behind.  Here I am 5 years later, communicating nearly effortlessly with my Salvadorian best friend and her family. Every day I hear a new word, and every day I make the effort to repeat that word and solidify it in my brain. I do not have a single verb tense and its irregulars memorized perfectly, because frankly, it is way too overwhelming. Babies are not taught their native tongues with flashcards or memorizing conjugation charts, they lea

Over time, so many different shows have been made and then adopted by other countries in order to make their own version based off of the popularity of the show in its original country. While a country adopts the show in order to make their own version, there will obviously be some changes in order to fit the aspects of that country. What most people might not consider however, is just how much a show might be changed in order to not only fit in with the citizens, but to also follow the laws and regulations of said country.  When it comes to Turkey and their laws about what can and can not be displayed on television, I have learned that no scenes of intimacy are allowed to be filmed. While it can be understood that more intimate scenes shouldn’t be seen due to possibility of children watching, etc., it takes scenes of passion and love in order to understand the characters' emotions for each other. WIthout these scenes, the viewers are often left to imagine just what these charact

 The title of Santa diabla quite literally translates to "holy devil" but the more accurate translation is " broken angel". This title refers to the main character Santa Martinez. Her physique, beauty, and subtleness paints her as an apparent angel. I do think she would be a genuine angel but the tragic death of her husband pushed her to desperate measures or in other words caused her to be a "broken angel". Her demeanor in general and especially with her son, Willy Delgado Jr., is very sweet and kind but she still is more than able to plan and attempt to exact a thorough revenge plot. In a similar manner, she is so able to effortlessly conduct herself in such a friendly and personable manner with the members of the Cano family while secretly plotting against them the whole time. Santa Martinez's angel side ultimately prevails in the end when she falls in love with Santiago Cano, the brother of the Canos that she was trying to take down. It is very int

Before this class, I was under the impression that telenovelas, like many melodramas, were just another show, a way to pass time but with lines spoken in another language. Now I know that telenovelas have a unique structure with characters that serve similar purposes. Some telenovelas, like Cosita Rica, even have massive cultural and political impacts with implied political and socio-economic commentary. Though many of us haven’t gotten to the final episodes of the shows we are watching, they are symbolic of the end of an era. The cast and crew of these massive productions have been working together for years and the end is both a celebration and a mourning. Something lost and something gained. The actors’ experiences on a certain show are irreplicable and the relationships they form are often bonds that last a lifetime. There is nothing like a tight-knit cast and crew because their genuine love for the show and what they do translates through the screen across countries.  Life is a se

 Before going into this course, I had never watched a telenovela. For one, I did not know what channels they were on, and I also did not speak the language. Despite my little to no knowledge about them, I still had many misconceptions and preconceptions about them. Social media often took to joking about the dramatics of telenovelas, as seen with the famous "crying in Spanish" meme. This type of joke was what I based my knowledge about what telenovelas were in my mind--cheesy and dramatic shows.  The introduction of this course however showed that they are anything but the simplified version I had in my head. Telenovelas are nuanced and carefully produced shows just like any other TV shows I've seen. I am also familiar with Korean dramas, and they also have plenty of cheesiness in them. The telenovela I have picked, Rosario Tijeras , is filled with action and plot from the first five minutes of the pilot episode. We see the leading female protagonist gravely wounded, and

I am very familiar with watching foreign films or TV shows with subtitles. The scope of amazing film not made in English is growing wider everyday--just look at Parasite : despite being a film only in Korean, it swept the Oscars last year. An interesting facet of Telenovelas that we learned in the course was the adaptation of shows and changing the actors and language. It is very similar to simply watching something with subtitles, but brings a different level of depth when watching an adapted show.  After all, telenovelas and melodramas in general are not only defined by the plot and dialogue. It is defined by the music, actors, time, political setting, and so much more.  Take, for example, Cosita Rica . It had all the makings of a classic telenovela: beautiful protagonists, an enticing love story, and plenty of drama and hardships in between. However, these are not the only things that made the show so big and memorable: it also reflected the political climate at the time, with one o

        Globalization illustrates a complicated web of homogenization and fragmentation that allow for cultures to realize one another's differences without overpowering them. It preserves cultures, while blending them at the same time to create relatable media that society can enjoy. The blending of cultures comes about when the particular genre is homogenized by using the same narrative modeling techniques along with a lowering of certain cultural aspects. The preservation of cultures comes from each local area adding their own aspects such as their economic/social situations. There's also a factor of certain restrictions that certain producing countries have to take into account when producing a telenovela, specifically Turkey. Turkish telenovelas are not allowed to incorporate certain details into a raunchy scene due to government regulations and prohibitions. This creates a different overall feeling for the telenovela compared to other countries who maybe are able to produ