Why is it that telenovelas are so unevenly distributed?
Is it due to who has the better content? Do some countries really just make better telenovelas, so good that the whole world wants them? Many countries would rather you believe that. Why wouldn't Country X want you to believe that its telenovelas are the most superior? It makes for great easy marketing. But it's more than that.
Politics can play into it--sometimes countries just don't like each other, and because of whatever controversy or issue they simply don't want to share their toys.
It can come down to cost--maybe some networks can't afford to export their product too much, so they get stuck behind borders.
But in all honesty, I believe it ultimately comes down to presuppositions. People have stereotypes in their head that certain groups in certain countries make telenovelas "better." So they stick to those ones, and hardly give others a chance. And when they do, they still don't change their opinion too much.
The networks are the worst about this--it's the same reason that rosa is pushed harder than de ruptura. Somewhere along the line, everyone got it in their heads that rosa sells better. So no matter how good de ruptura can be, rosa always gets the push and leaves de ruptura behind in the dust. Likewise, countries like Mexico get stereotyped as the "best-selling" telenovelas. Thus, everyone takes them in. Other countries that don't have as much of a push or a precident get left behind.
It's impossible to change the minds of the people up at the top. Thus, it's up to the individual viewer to search out telenovelas of various origins to learn what is truly best to their taste.
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I agree that individuals should make their own judgments of each telenovela series's quality. But Marisa Roman and Ruxandra Ciobanu (representing hispanic as well as eastern european, telenovela actress, as well as avid public viewer) both dislike Mexican telenovelas the most. I would say a great number of world viewers make a smart judgment that Mexican telenovelas are of poor quality, recreating typical rosa plots again and again.
ReplyDeleteI think another factor that should be taken into consideration is that one country's culture as a whole. Yes, you're right that it is up to the individual to find their own preferences for telenovelas, but sometimes it's just easier to watch what's on TV.
ReplyDeleteFor example, since Venezuela is so focused on beauty and vanity maybe their TV station chooses to air a telenovela produced by Country A instead of Country B because Country A might have talked about beauty pageants while Country B was about a pregnant woman.
Take "Betty" as another example; this idea has erupted all over the world, but each country has adapted it for its people--the situations are different but the basis of the idea is still there.
I think that there is a reason that certain people/genres are at the top. Although it is necessary to take into consideration the political context of the popularity of a type of telenovela, I think we should keep in mind that telenovelas rosas are what is selling. If de ruptura were more popular, we would see much more de ruptura novelas on the air. Whether we like it or not, it all comes down to what consumers want. If a writer wants to experiment and write a novela that is out of the box no one is stopping them. But he or she has to consider his audience and the culture of his or her audience. If they don't like what he or she is writing, then they aren't going to watch. Given the success of rosa versus ruptura, the audience wants rosa more than de ruptura.
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