1st Blog

     My knowledge pertaining to telenovelas before this class was extremely limited before coming to this class. Surface level is somewhat of an understatement because I simply assumed that they were simply Spanish soap operas. But my understanding of English soap operas was only derived from a regular tv show that mentioned soap operas every once in a while and also just the overall stereotypical elements of soap operas, like over-dramatic dialogue and plot points. I mainly picked this class because it is related to Spanish, which is my minor. I want to become fluent and I know watching tv is a great way to develop one's skills. 

    Surprisingly, I have found myself to come to really enjoy watching telenovelas. When I told my high school Spanish teacher that I am in a class about telenovelas and that I like watching them too, at first she made fun of me for "turning soft". Once she was done with her antics, I asked her if she ever watched any telenovelas when she was growing up. She told me that they played a huge role in her childhood, and served as a great bonding experience between her, her mother, and her grandmother. She said she was really young so she does not remember too well but she said it was called “Cuna de lobos”

Since I was born in 2002, there has not been a common show to unite the country like television in the 60s, 70s, and 80s did; in the modern age of television there are so many different channels and shows that no one particular show has had every family across the nation sitting down together and watching it. More than that, I know the only show that has ever had most of my family sitting down together is Jeopardy, which is far from enjoyable for me to watch. As I discussed this with my former spanish teacher, who is from Colombia, she agreed. She brought up the point that while most of the telenovelas she watched were not Colombian and did not have all of Colombia watching, they still managed to bring her family together every airing. She even went as far as to attribute some of her fondest memories to watching telenovelas with her family. 

So my take away from it all is that even if one despises the traditional melodramatic dialogue and plots of telenovelas, they at the very least create a great bonding experience for families all across the globe, minus the many like mine in America who did not have that family show to gather around.