Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Women's Roles in Telenovelas

In my telenovela, Dueños del Paraíso, the main character, Anastasia, takes over her husband's cocaine empire and soon becomes more powerful than she can control.  Her partners are Conrado, Adán, and Alejo, who all have spouses, Erica, Analia, and Veronica.  Of course in most telenovelas, women are very beautiful but don't really have any significant role besides being beautiful and sitting at home.  With Erica, Analia, and Veronica, most of this rings true.  They all live off what their spouses make, which only adds to the stereotypical role of housewife.  They do have positions of power, sometimes, for example, Analia catches her husband cheating, and threatens to take away any power that he had.  Erica comes into money of her own, by becoming a porn star.  Veronica almost turns Adán and his partners into the police when she finds out that he is dealing cocaine.  Anastasia is different, she comes from a broken home and has to take care of herself.  She marries rich and is happy and carefree for a while, until her husband Nathaniel leaves her.  Once this happens, her role changes.  She finally comes to the forefront as a leader, and her story is ultimately what makes the telenovela.  She is beautiful, very much so, but her intelligence is recognized more and more as the story progresses.  This to me, is different from how a woman is typically portrayed in telenovelas.  Rarely is a woman seen as not only beautiful, but intelligent and powerful.  It's great that a woman takes the lead and is able to have such control.  Of course, being practically a drug dealer is never a good idea, but having a woman in power is a nice change.

2 comments:

  1. I love that the two "kinds" of women are paralleled in this show: the secondary character and the boss. This stark contrast goes to make a social standpoint that women are more than just beauties to look at. Telenovelas are notorious for framing women in a stereotypical way, making them seem as if they are just there for sex and pleasure. The telenovela you are watching is impressive it that it puts women in a new light.

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  2. La Reina Del Sur is a telenovela that is similar your telenovela in regards to having a strong female lead. It follows Teresa's story on how she becomes a drug trafficking legend. She has a rough past and puts up walls, but eventually she learns how to take care of herself. I think it is important to have powerful women represented in telenovelas because what is shown on tv affects its viewers. If girls do not see women who are are different, intelligent, or powerful shown on tv, the young girls will think that those types of women do not exist.

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