FYOS - Telenovelas Spring 2021

 When thinking of a telenovela, the most common association is to refer to them as "Spanish Soap Operas." While to some extent Soap Operas and Telenovelas have much in common, Telenovelas do not have to be in Spanish, they are just commonly associated with the language. It is common that they are in Portuguese or Turkish!  Telenovelas and Soap Operas are both dramatic and intensely emotional love stories with lots of information to keep up with. Often, this is why they are confused for one another. Both telenovelas and soap operas have been successful in the television industry, it is important to note their difference!  Most differences between telenovelas and soap operas come in the structure. Telenovelas have a certain amount of episodes, which are established before airing. Every move is planned. On the other hand, soap operas do not have a limit to their episodes, and they are typically less structured in terms of broadcasting times and more flexible with the plot. F...

I wanted to discuss the character of Camila in the current telenovela I'm watching and how I view her potential so far. Pasi ón (2007) is a romance telenovela starring Susana González as Camila Darién, Sebastián Rulli as Santiago Márquez, Fernando Colunga as Ricardo de Salamanca and Juan Ferrara as Jorge Mancera y Ruiz. The drama stems around a woman named Camila, who is the daughter of Don Justo and Ofelia as well as the lover of the blacksmith Santiago. After four long years being kept prisoner by the British, Santiago escapes his captors and returns to his home in the town of San Fernando. Delighted to see him again after such a long time, his family celebrates his arrival that night where Santiago announces his desire to marry Camila. However, problems soon arise for the couple in their endeavor to get married… Within the first few episodes so far, Camila is initially presented as a hard-working, faithful woman. With her introduction, we see the kind of work she does managing ...

  Last week in class we learned about how consumption plays a big role in telenovelas. Telenovelas affect how the viewers see themselves or even their societies. People tend to watch telenovelas to interact with family and friends more when they are not together or even when they are all sitting in the living room waiting for the telenovela to start. Some people like watching telenovelas because of the romance between the characters such as the female and male protagonist. Also, what captures the audience's attention is the drama that is incorporated into the telenovela’s. Romance and drama are the two essential things that really drive a telenovela to where they are. My abuelita (which means grandma), has told me the reason that she loves watching telenovelas is because of the extreme plot twist, crazy inducing love stories, and the drama filled reactions. One of her favorite telenovelas are Passion de Gavilanes because of how three brothers wanted to avenge the death of a loved o...

In any production site, there could be anywhere from a few dozen to hundreds of people. Today in class, I realized that actors are forced to be in their “zone” in front of strangers, in front of whole crews of people focused on different aspects of the show. Actors must spend time getting to know their character and embodying who they will be for the next several months, but during that character’s lowest points, dozens of people are working on the specifics of lighting, sound, and filming. Directors move in and out of shots, scripts and stylists fix details, and production assistants zip in and out of rooms, but the actors must stay unbothered, and more importantly, in character. Many lead actors and actresses working together for the first time must be intimate on camera soon after filming commences or burst out into tears on command. This high level of control actors have over their emotions is something I never even stopped to consider.  Vulnerability takes a lot of time to bui...

      Telenovelas are a type of melodrama filled with the lust of romance and desire. Oftentimes, the audience can feel this deep desire and chemistry amongst the actors and actresses to such an extent that it almost feels real. Since viewing my telenovela, "La Reina Del Sur," I have become captivated by the chemistry between Mendoza (Kate del Castillo) and El Guero Avila (Rafael Amaya). Little did I know, the chemistry portrayed in most telenovelas is not actually as real as it seems, but instead there is a lot of behind the scenes that glamorize and put a facade over what goes down in steamy scenes between the two actors.       For example, the main actors don't actually make out, and often they aren't actually fully nude, but it appears that way to the audience due to costumes and makeup. The actresses and actors that portray the main characters involved in the love story also have to possess prime acting skills and natural talent, in order to make ...

 After today's lecture when I was watching Santa Diabla, I realized how much of a contrast there is in actors' and actresses'' emotions on screen and behind the camera. When on screen and acting they are fully devoted and seem like they actually care, but the second the camera is cut all that love, hate, joy, sadness, or whatever that seems so real vanishes in the blink of an eye. Obviously this is just the mark of good acting but it is weird to think about how emotionally invested the viewers are versus the people actually putting in the work probably only care about where they fit into the story and don't care about that emotionally, they just want their pay check. Still at that, the actors and actresses make their emotions seem so real and genuine. In Santa Diabla, you feel compelled, you feel like you also want to exact your revenge on the antagonistic family just as the main character does. While most shows might make you interested or slightly invested, Santa ...

In class, I learned about the concept of despecho, where people actively endure their own pain and heartbreak rather than closing it off. As an Asian American, it was a concept that made no sense to me; I had been raised to simply move on from heartbreak, preferably quickly. Taking the time to fully embrace ones own pain felt like a waste of time to me. After watching the process of despecho in the telenovela  La Reina del Flow , my opinion changed.  When the protagonist, Yeimy, lost both of her parents in a shooting, she cried, which was a perfectly reasonable reaction. But then it happened again and again as she spent time in her state of despecho. Being the numbed televison viewer I was, I got annoyed. "So many people lose their parents in televison, and they don't react this much!" I thought to myself. But, after reflecting on it, I realized that while grief is portrayed in American TV differently, the telenovela's portrayal of despecho is still a very valid (and ...

     I have never seen a show with so much storyline in the first episode. I'm used to the first episode being the pilot where we are simply introduced to the main characters, and maybe towards the end, there is some easy conflict that gets resolved before the credits. In my telenovela La casa de al lado that simply wasn't the case. The episode began on a high note with there being a wedding between the main female protagonist Ignacio and the main male protagonist Gonzalo. It is later revealed that this is Ignacio's second marriage, so it is a big deal that she was able to find happiness in Gonzalo to remarry. Without giving any spoilers the episode progresses and we see an affair, a death, and sibling rivalry. To my American eyes that are used to seeing one maybe two conflicts, an episode all of this came as such a huge shock to me. At the same time, I loved that I was shocked. It was like after every commercial break I was diving deeper and deeper into the story and it ...

      Last week we learned about the consumption of telenovelas and the way the audience engages with them as well. The most notable thing to me was the enormous response to Cosita Rica. The story of how an entire city was enraged by the interruption from the president of their favorite show was completely new to me. I could not fathom if a television show or movie have ever elicited such a response here in America. I also began to wonder the how: how did one show garner the attention of an entire city, watching a broadcast at the same time?      This kind of question has no straight forward answer. Just as mentioned in class, if there were a secret key to success, then everyone would following it. The creators of  Cosita Rica may not even know what led to such a wide success. What we do know, however, are the parts that contributed to such success. Beauty, storyline, mystery, drama, etc. were all factors that made an amazing show. Timing and envi...

      When watching telenovelas, or even any show, it's easy to just get wrapped into the episode/series. I know that I personally never really consider all the work that goes into the process. From directors, to writers, to the camera crew, to the mic guys; there's so much behind the scenes that we never really consider. Just today I learned about all the different directors there are for each different section of the set. Not to mention that each director has many people working under them as well including floor managers and scripts. Never had I imagined that such jobs existed. But like I said  earlier, it's so easy to get caught up in the show that you never really considered it.     Personally, when I really like a series I tend to binge watch it. Thanks to owning  Netflix, I can do such a thing. However, if I were to watch a telenovela on tv, I would have to wait each day until the next episode came out. As a very young c...

 After attending last week's class, where Dr. A discussed the consumption of telenovelas and epic love stories in telenovelas, I was surprised at the many things I learned. Starting with the consumption of telenovelas, I never knew that a show could split an entire country in two. After Dona Barbara was released, people identified themselves as either the "Barbaritas" or the "Mariselitas"; I found this to be quite humorous. It's as if the "Barbaritas" and the "Mariselitas" were two political parties. If one side was satisfied with the result of the couple, then the other side will revolt causing the writer to be in great distress. Everybody was worried about the outcome because it could either benefit one side, benefit one side more than the other, or not even benefit anyone at all. Just like with political parties, one side might find that the other side's rules and regulations are not to their liking and will protest and riot. With...

          For the seminar, I chose  Yo Soy Betty, La Fea  as the telenovela I wanted to analyze and describe in my final paper. I knew from the moment I watched the introduction in class that this telenovela was a romantic comedy that I was searching for. In the first part of the pilot episode, I concluded that a clothing company rejected Betty for their secretary position simply because she did not physically appear as the other interviewees, who were actual models also applying for a job. Betty was so desperate to find a career that would support her and her family. During the first few minutes, the show already grasped my attention, and I knew I wanted to watch more. Unfortunately, the only way I could watch the show was with Spanish subtitles only. While I could understand part of the plot from the first episode, I could not grasp the important details and could only comprehend the story superficially. I expected this to be true for the remain...

    While watching the clips of telenovelas we’ve been shown in class, and while watching the telenovela that I chose, La Reina del Sur, I’ve noticed something. This is also something that I’ve noticed when flipping through the channels mid afternoon on a weekday when I was home sick from school, which as well all know is the primetime for soap operas. What I’ve noticed is that telenovelas and soap operas have a distinct visual style. It’s certainly hard to describe or characterize it without showing you what I mean. I guess the way that I could is by juxtaposing telenovelas and soap operas with more typical dramas from the same time period.  Below is a link to a clip from La Reina del Sur and a clip from Breaking Bad. Both of which are narco-dramas and both clips are taken from 2011. https://youtu.be/0ZLR7ypvZv0 La Reina del Sur https://youtu.be/zAjJYkUnTEs Breaking Bad Now I’ve only chosen one example from each genre, but many telenovelas share a similar energy a...

     Racism. It is a horrible fault of our present day society, and it must be stopped. It runs tragically rampant among our country, among our continent, and among our planet. There is hope though, as it is being fought by the crowds on the streets: every single day last summer the BLM movement fought back against this country built on racism. But one unexpected place, a place I did not think I would find racism being perpetuated as well as fought against, is in the world of telenovelas.      I'm not sure why it was so surprising to me that telenovelas are quite racist and colorist. It had never crossed my mind before this class, but now as I look back at the episodes and clips that I've seen it is quite clear. Why are telenovelas so white? What compels casting directors and producers to rarely hire people of color in telenovelas? These questions, of course, extend outside the world of telenovelas, as Hollywood has a clear lack of diversity as well. And I ...

  Colorism is not an issue that comes as new to most of us. We see it, not only in our nation, but across the world. Specifically, it is a big issue within the Latinx community.  In addition to this class, I am also taking a Latino Literature class this semester. I've noticed that some of the topics we've touched on here line up with some that are highlighted in the literature we read. One of our texts spoke on the fact there is this misconception in a lot of Latinx households that racism is only a problem of the United States and is not at all present in their home countries. That, as we come to see, is definitely not the case.  It is not at all uncommon to hear a grandma address their grandchild as "negrit@" simply due to their darker complexity. Though this is dismissed as a "sweet" way to address your family members or that "they know I'm just messing with them", it is the foundation of colorism we see introduced within one's own home. ...

By Mac Earnest (posted by Dr. A due to technology difficulties). In all honesty, I took this class because I thought it would be easy and I’d get to watch some cheesy dramatic television. After the first few classes I have learned that telenovelas are so much more than soap operas. Sure most telenovelas have a love triangle at their core, but there’s so many ways writers and producers play with that structure. At first I wanted to choose something cheesy and steamy and silly, but after learning about how intricate and how profound some telenovelas can be, I decided to look for something more serious, unique, and thought provoking. I chose a narco novela. I chose La Reina del Sur.