Plus, these telenovelas are being exported to countries all over the world (Hungary, Czech Republic, USA, etc.)--why aren't other races being represented??? Wouldn't that increase viewership? Like that one Brazilian actor who looks too caucasian and isn't getting roles despite being talented at his job--what is up with that?
My telenovela had a black woman in it, and she played a very small role for maybe 1 episode. When I saw her, I was so surprised because it wasn't until the moment that I saw her did I realize that no one else in the telenovela was of a different race. It hit me like a ton of bricks of the shortcomings of racial integration in the telenovelas.
You make a good point. I don't know why novelas have excluded certain races from production. I never even thought about that when I was watching my novela. I guess I just assumed that since the novela was made for latin speaking countries that it would only feature people from that area. I suppose that in America it's hard for us to believe that everyone in a country looks the same but other countries are not a melting pot of races like ours. When I went to Croatia this summer everyone there looked similar. Becuase Croatia was a part of former Yukoslavia, people in Croatia also looked like people in neighboring countries. Several people asked to take pictures with me because they had never seen a black person before. That being said, I think that novels probably just reflect the population that they are made in and the diversity of that country... or lack thereof.
ReplyDeleteIn the last telenovela that I've been watching ("Dame Chocolate"), I've seen the same issue- there aren't many different types of races being shown. They do show different aspects of Latino, but they aren't any African Americans, Asians, etc.
ReplyDeleteWhat I did observe are the different accents of these Latino actors- there was even one woman in my show who is American (Caucasian) but raised in Colombia so she's got a perfect American accent when speaking English, but a perfect Colombian accent when speaking Spanish.
I agree- bring on the different ethnicities! (Hey, I'm Asian.. I wouldn't mind being in a telenovela!) It would be great for consumption elsewhere in the world.
I agree, we have barely seen other races in all of these telenovelas. I think we may be used to such diversity because of the country in which we live. Although I would love to see more diversity in telenovelas, the actors seem to follow the majority of inhabitants in Latin America. Some Latin American countries classify themselves as 90% "white". In the United States, we are 74%. I'm not sure how big of a role this plays in the casting of parts but I think that white actors are probably the norm in Latin America.
ReplyDeleteI must comment on the actor that looked "too white" to get a role. This really upset me. It seems like such a crazy reason to not hire someone. It is interesting though that he looked too white instead of too dark. It was sort of like a reverse to what we are used to hearing. I wish people wouldn't cast so much on race but character.