you never forget your first telenovela

The first line of Dr. A’s book really got to me, “mi mama nunca vio telenovelas”. For my mother, that was only partially true. She barely watched them when she lived in Colombia is what she tells me. When they migrated to the United States they were too broke to afford cable and back then there were no Colombian broadcasts through satellite dishes so the expense wouldn't have been worth it. My exposure to telenovelas came at my baby sitter's house. I barely remember the one that was geared for kids but I do remember La Usurpadora. I remember dramatic music and fancy clothes and one very evil woman. And so telenovelas became something in my Hispanic heritage that I discovered for myself, my semi-secret from my parents.

But Dish Network, and my visiting grandfather, finally persuaded my parents to make the switch. Suddenly we had more channels in Spanish we knew what to do with. An evening of boredom and channel surfing led to my mother and I bonding over Pasion de Gavilanes, with my father sitting in the kitchen throwing out sarcastic remarks when things got especially melodramatic (he never admits to keeping up with the story lines, but he always does). We watched Colombian telenovelas, comparing them to the Mexican ones we had watched in our initial fervor. Now my mother and I call each other almost every other day, comparing notes and theories on the telenovela she watches at home and I watch on my laptop.

To me telenovelas have always seemed like the perfect ice-breaker. I could ask if someone had caught last night’s episode of Pura Sangreand then find myself in the middle of an argument as to the parentage of the protagonist or the intentions of the antagonist. Telenovelas gave me common ground with my cousins who lived in Colombia, our lives always seems so different until they can tease me about knowing the ending my current favorite.

This bonding phenomenon manifested itself as I was talking to a friend at church about this class and the telenovela I had chosen to analyze, Corazon Salvaje. My friend barely remembers the show but her mother all but leapt over the pew to tell me how much she had loved the storyline. I look forward to further understanding why this telenovela, and others in general, seem to inspire this fierce sense of loyalty and camaraderie.