Telenovelas

**Telenovelas** By Emilie George = **History** = A telenovela is a dramatic television program, originating in Mexico, which runs for a set number of episodes and ends climactically, making all wrongs right. Telenovelas originated from a combination of folletines and radionovelas. Folletines were short stories that came in installments and were printed in newspapers and magazines in the 19th century. Radionovelas or, the “radio novel,” first became popular in Cuba during the Cuban Revolution. Workers in cigar factories began reading novels out loud in short segments to keep everyone entertained. This soon made its way to radio stations and they then did the same thing. Once Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, many people involved in radio fled from Cuba, moving to other Latin American countries, bring the “radio novel” with them. ==

Once the telenovela emerged as a profitable television program, big production leaders made their mark above the rest. The top three telenovela producers in the 1960’s were [|Televisa] of Mexico, [|Venevision] of Venezuela, and [|Globo TV] of Brazil. These producers became extremely profitable for their countries and for Mexico, telenovelas are one of the most successful parts of Mexican culture that is exported to the rest of the world. Mexican telenovelas were first exported to the United States in the 1970s and became visible on the world stage in the 1990’s when countries like Russia began industrializing. The plotlines of telenovelas were much more relatable to industrializing countries than American sitcoms, giving them the edge they needed to be successful in the foreign scene.

= **Characteristics of a Telenovela** = Although many people may believe that telenovelas are simply just “Spanish soap operas,” they truly are not and actually are their own cultural genre. Telenovelas, unlike soap operas, air daily during prime-time television and usually air for four to six months. After around 120 episodes, the telenovela ends climactically, almost always for the good and makes all wrongs right. This is far different from American soap operas that can continue for years with no ending or closure. In addition, telenovelas are not just aimed at one gender or generation of viewers, but the entire spectrum of people. It is quite usual for entire families watch a telenovela together, unifying the family at the end of the day with a common interest.

In addition to the way they are produced, telenovelas also have content and storylines that are unique. Of course they do include love interests, complicated family relationships, and highly dramatic or even over dramatic scenes, they truly focus on the continual struggles and obstacles of the main character, and ultimately arrive at a happy ending. Telenovelas often deal with poverty, class conflict, and institutional instability, things that soap operas do not address at all. And although their characters have recently become more glamorous or cosmopolitan, telenovelas do follow middle and lower class characters as well. Because so many people watch telenovelas, characters are made to seem as “normal” and real-life as possible so that they are easily relatable to the masses. A common and reoccurring plotline is that of Cinderella or a poor struggling woman who faces many obstacles but in the end has a good and happy life. The reversal of fortune plotline is also very popular and falls in the Cinderella storyline well. This balance of reality and dramatic fiction is what has made telenovelas so successful. Rosalind C. Pearson puts it well in the essay, Fact or Fiction? Narrative and Reality in the Mexican Telenovela, that, “they are a microcosm of Mexican life and culture, with the drama of daily life translating into the melodrama of telenovela life. Melodrama synthesizes the real with the unreal, [and] it pushes common occurrences into the realm of fantasy.”

= **Importance of Telenovelas in Mexican Culture** = In a study done by Jorge Gonzalez in the essay Understanding Telenovelas as a Cultural Front: A Complex Analysis of a Complex Reality, Gonzalez found that the cultural genre of telenovelas are incredibly important to Mexican families in more ways than one. The showing of telenovelas provides a time for the entire family to come together for one common pastime. Despite the fact that the show may seem unrealistic or far-fetched, many people related themselves to the characters in the telenovelas based on manners, emotional attitudes and clothing styles. Furthermore, women who spend their entire day caring for the family find it to be a sacred time that they would never give up. Watching telenovelas gives Mexican viewers a sense of cultural identity as they look upon the characters for some sort of guidance, just like generations of people in Mexico have done for decades. Telenovelas have been a part of Mexico for so long that it is engrained in their culture.



= **Telenovelas Today** = Just as society and cultural norms have changed over time, the telenovela has had to do so as well to stay current and maintain younger viewers. Maria de la Luz Casas Perez, the author of the essay, Cultural Identity: Between Reality and Fiction, describes how “as the Mexican social context evolved, female telenovela characters began to work outside the home and male macho patterns started to fade.” In addition to this, current telenovelas are shifting to concepts with more real-life drama situations. Instead of housewives, new characters are being introduced that are international and cosmopolitan, as well as people from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Not only do the major telenovela producers in Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil and the US need to stay contemporary with their own countries developments but they also need to make sure that their content appeals to people in other regions of the word, as almost two billion people around the world watch telenovelas.

media type="youtube" key="_ky2C9Iloo8" height="315" width="420" align="center"

The introduction to the telenovela //Rosalinda//.