More than entertainment

I have always loved watching drama on television, so when I saw my first telenovela in high school I was instantly hooked. When I was taking Spanish in high school, we would watch portions of the telenovela Destinos practically every day in class. Destinos is a telenovela that was specifically created with the intention of teaching Spanish to beginners. Raquel Rodriguez was a Spanish speaking lawyer from California who was hired by a dying man’s family to track down his first wife who had been presumed dead after the Spanish Civil War. Raquel travelled to multiple different Spanish speaking countries while also teaching our class basic Spanish. Needless to say, it grabbed all of our attention and made learning the Spanish language fun. One of the things that I think makes telenovelas so cool is that they are not only super dramatic, but they are also great tools to help learn the Spanish language. If my high school Spanish class had not watched Destinos then I would not have cared enough to learn as much of the Spanish language as I did. This is one of the main reasons that I'm excited about watching the telenovela that I chose, La Patrona. While I am obviously looking forward to the drama, I am also looking forward to having another tool to help me in my Spanish class this semester.

Cant Stay Away

Like most people of this generation, I have mastered the art of "binge watching." I thought I had finally controlled this addiction after years of trying to control this habit, but I was very wrong. After being introduced to the world wide phenomenon, the telenovela, my addiction quickly returned. How am I supposed to stop watching after only one episode when every single show ends with a dramatic cliffhanger leaving me wanting more?! I thought I had watched dramatic TV series in the past, but nothing compares to the action packed 45 minutes of the telenovela. Not only are they dramatic, but there are so many different varieties, so there is a telenovela catered to everybody's specific tastes. Personally, I am a huge soccer fan, so of course I picked a telenovela that involved a lot of futbol, "Avenida Brasil." I was hooked after only watching the trailer as one of the first scene opens with the view of a beautiful stadium. The trailers for telenovelas, specifically this one, are also very different than commercials for normal TV series. They explain the basic plot of the series and provide just enough drama to reel you in, leaving you wondering at the end of the clip. I know this is exactly how i felt after watching the trailer for "Avenida Brasil." I haven't even begun the show, but I already know that once I start, I wont be bale to stop. That is the pure power of the telenovela.

Extremely Spicy Plotlines: Telenovelas

     After looking up a few of the telenovelas mentioned in class today I decided on watching "Duas Caras". As we talked about in class, telenovelas have very intricate story lines with many characters and copious amounts of cliffhangers, and "Duas Caras" seems like it will live up to those expectations. I plan to start watching it over the weekend, but I did read the beginning of a summary of the show and oh man does it look like something that will get me hooked. From what I gathered the series takes a reversal on the Cinderella archetype where it is a young, naive girl who falls for a poor boy, but that is where things take a 180-degree turn.
    The poor boy is actually a con-man who divorces his new wife for her riches, moves away, and changes his name. Maria, the protagonist, then begins to track down her ex "Double Jeopardy" style, and that is as far as I read since I did not want to spoil the obvious chaos that ensues for the remainder of the show. This telenovela interests me because the stereotypical protagonist is usually a naive girl who slowly becomes less and less so as she adapts to her new surroundings, but here her naivety is broken early on in the series when she is orphaned and later betrayed by her husband which causes her to mature more quickly than usual. I believe that the author of this show also wants to showcase the male superiority stereotype and introduce to the audience a female character who beats the stereotype and not only exacts her revenge but ends up in a better place than she was before. Of course I have yet to actually start watching the series and these are just assumptions, but I do look forward to watching and learning the truth for myself.

Analysis of Hugo Benavides's Latin American Telenovelas: The Political Power of Melodramatic Resignification - Taking a Deeper Look Into Telenovela Monopolies

The first reading for this course was Hugo Benavides's section on Latin American Telenovelas: The Political Power of Melodramatic Resignification. The work dealt with how telenovelas became popular in various countries including the United States through aspects such as globalization and how telenovelas can connect to a viewer. A quote from the work that heavily interested me was, "It is this powerful process of cultural commodification and reconfiguration that has made even the original national groups lose their economic monopoly on telenovela production". Before attending the course, I had assumed that many countries in South America and Latin America had produced telenovelas. Instead, I learned that countries such as Mexico, Argentina, and Venezuela had large monopolies which weakened with competitors from Brazil, Peru, Colombia, etc. That was a very eye-opening concept of which I committed further research in the topic of telenovela monopolies and how it has affected monopolies and it's loosening due to globalization.

One of the countries that has a very strong hold on telenovela production is Mexico which has had recent political troubles in the past 10 years over its media structure. Mexican media is mainly dominated by the oligopoly Televisa which is the largest multimedia company in the Spanish speaking world. Televisa is known for producing recent telenovelas such as A que no me dejas and La vecina which are broadcasted worldwide through networks in the U.S. such as Univsion (Which Televisa owns a 5% stake in) or Telemundo along with various other channels across the world. Televisa does have a competitor in Mexico for telenovela production known as TV Azteca which has made some progress in chipping away at the monopoly of Televisa in the country but is still overshadowed by the strength of Televisa. However, the 2012 Mexican Presidential election has led to calls by protesters to break up the oligopoly of Televisa in Mexico. Televisa was heavily accused of supporting candidate Enrique Nieto throughout the election in many ways including to not show the first national debate between candidates in order to preserve Nieto's lead. If Televisa's control over the media in Mexico can be decreased, it will also lead to many other countries to have a chance at better distributing their own telenovelas without the monopolistic power of Televisa around the world.

An aspect that has greatly loosened the monopolistic control of telenovela production by certain countries is the rise of globalization. Globalization can encompass many aspects but a simplistic definition is the process of integrating communications, economics, and cultures around the world. Telenovelas has played a major role in globalization by spreading around the world in various continents which has led viewers to experience a new type of genre never seen before along with many of its cultural aspects depending on the country of origin. This has allowed countries such as Peru and Colombia to spread its telenovelas while weakening the strongholds of countries such as Mexico, Argentina, and Venezuela as described by Benavides. One of the machinery or tools of globalization that has allowed for the growth of telenovelas in many nations is the internet which in turn allowed viewers instant access to vast amounts of telenovela programs of his or her liking on websites such as YouTube and Netflix. This further weakens the telenovela monopoly by allowing viewers to choose any type of telenovela without being forced to watched telenovelas from certain countries on televisions. Overall, globalization has been a major force in weakening the monopolistic forces of telenovela production although Mexico, Venezuela, and Argentina still are major leaders.

Sources

1. Benevides Reading
2. http://fortune.com/2012/09/14/mexicos-media-monopoly-vs-the-people/
3. http://www.dailynews.com/article/ZZ/20080323/NEWS/803239943
4. http://www.globalization101.org/what-is-globalization/

Plot Development

Novelas have always been present in my life. Since I was a young child, I could remember my mom, my aunts, and my grandma discussing the latest episodes or the stories of a novela. Since we all lived in the same apartment, it was something that I would hear almost every day. I never thought anything of it. I figured novelas were mostly for women since the only people that I knew who watched them were women. Around ten years later, I remember my dad asking my mom about some novela because he was not caught up with it. I still refused to believe that they were something that anyone could enjoy; I just figured that my dad was watching them to connect more with my mom. However, my cousin, who is as close as a brother to me, also mentioned watching novelas every night with his mom. That is when I realized that anyone could enjoy this genre of television.
Honestly, I still did not watch any novelas, mostly because I did not watch much television during this time. However, seeing the previews got me very eager to start watching them. There are scenes that were very intense, scenes that were comical, and scenes that were relaxing to watch. What I really am interested in is the plot development in novelas. I do not understand how they can keep someone watching for over one hundred episodes, especially when the the major characters are introduced in the first episode and they seem to fall in love immediately. Watching a clip from Michaela today in class made me question that.
I am excited to start watching La Reina del Sur to find answers to my questions and to get involved in the story. Maybe I could also see where Kate del Castillo started interacting with famous drug lords.

A Part of Life

It's interesting to me that telenovelas can become such a huge part of a person's life, watching the same telenovelas for years and years, sitting down at the same time everyday to watch their favorite show. Audiences become connected to the characters in ways unlike any other genre of entertainment, and it's impressive that it can affect people in such a way.

It also amazes me that telenovelas can be successful after so many years of repeating the same stories. It would seem to me that people would lose interest in a telenovela if they knew what was going to come, but the intense drama and the audience's connection to the characters give them a reason to continue watching for so many years, enough to be a part of life for many people. 

The immense variety in telenovelas allows for everyone to have their favorite show, anywhere from romance to action, such as Pablo Escobar: El Patron Del Mal, the telenovela that I am beginning to watch. I'm interested to compare it to the show Narcos that is on Netflix, to see the differences between a telenovela and a regular TV show on the same topic, specifically the differences in budget, production quality, and amount of different actors throughout the story. 

Telenovelas: A Platform for Social Reform

Telenovelas are popular because they are really more than melodramas. While the plot may be twisted and convoluted, the writers often address much more important problems. They present political and social issues in an extremely entertaining and theatrical way. The complexity of the storylines mixed with everyday issues makes telenovelas the most addicting shows on TV. Similarly, the Turkish telenovela Fatmagulu Sucu Ne addresses social issues in an extremely captivating way. Unlike other telenovelas, Fatmagul moves at an exceptionally slow pace and does not end in a cliffhanger. While this show is not the stereotypical telenovela, it is still both addicting and powerful. It addresses the issues of rape and victim shaming while having a complex Romeo and Juliet love story.
In the first episode a beautiful young woman named Fatmagul is gang raped by three men. She is subsequently shamed and ostracized by everyone she knows. Her “loving” fiancé, Mustafa, leaves her and burns down their future home. Then she is forced to tell the police she lied about the rape and is pressured to marry one of her rapists.

From the first episodes, the writers obviously want to draw attention to the Middle Eastern culture’s reaction to rape. After Fatmagul was assaulted, she is treated as if she were to blame. No one seems to care about catching the culprits or getting justice for her. While Fatmagul is wrongly scrutinized and shamed for being raped, her ex-fiancé Mustafa, receives nothing but comfort and support. From this, the writers are hinting that Middle Eastern women are often treated unfairly in this situation. While western women usually receive support after an assault, Middle Eastern women may not have the same comforts. This show suggests that sexually assaulted women are treated like outcasts and their lives and reputations will never be the same. The extreme drama and blatant cruelty in Fatmagul Sucu Ne demonstrates the severity of this issue and the need for social reform.