TELENOVELAS Fall 2009

Telenovelas: Spanish Soap Operas, right? Sorry, a bit off. I'm not going to lie, I was nervous about taking a class on Telenovelas. I watched one in my high school spanish class, and I didn't understand it. When my advisor told me about the class, I was quite hesitant. She told me the Professor was incredible, and she really recommended it, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

After the first day, I was relieved. When we started to discuss what a Telenovela is and that it's more than just a love story, I was a lot more excited about the class and the idea of Telenovelas in general. I'm really interested in the relationship of culture and mass media, so when I learned that culture is affected by Telenovelas (and vice versa), I was really excited.

Spanish speaking cultures are quite different than the general American lifestyle, so it is important to understand it, especially for those of us who are language minors/majors. There is more to language than words and syntax.

Luckily this class is combining my major, my minor, and some of my interests, in a very unique way. Studying Telenovelas wasn't the first idea I had about studying culture, but with every class I've been to, I'm getting more and more interested. Who knows, maybe I'll be hooked on watching Telenovelas in my spare time by the end of the semester, or even sooner...