The World of Telenovelas

I’m really glad we decided to wait until the end of the semester to talk to the writers. We had so many more prying questions than when we first started in this course and so much more appreciation for what a telenovela is. I have not seen any of Alberto’s telenovelas, but it was so exciting to get to hear from him and hear about his experiences as a writer. Being a writer seems like it would be really hard; he said that at times he was responsible for 4 tevenovelas. I had no idea that the networks pretty much tell them what to write, and they have to follow these guidelines. Also, it was good to hear that if the writer hates where the direction of the telenovela is going, he usually is passionate enough to stop writing because it is not what he envisioned. They work so hard to write these stories, and they shouldn’t let the networks rewrite what they have spent so much time developing.

I think one of the most surprising things that I learned from taking this class was the globalization and popularity of the telenovela. Millions of people watch them, and not only in Latin America but all over the world. We even got the really popular series Ugly Betty from a telenovela. There are SO many that have been made, both remakes and originals, and they dominate Latin television. There are a lot of factors to why people love them, but in my opinion any good television show has drama and a strong love story. One of my favorite shows, The Office, has a lot of humor but also still manages to incorporate a love story between two of the main characters. Their love story is one of the reasons I have continued to watch the show from season to season. This idea of love forever and a one true love really keeps viewers watching.