Music to Who's Ears?

Music is a key aspect in setting the mood. It can turn a scene of mild emotion into a gripping scenario of passion and zeal...

...if done properly.

If you have music like Los Ricós Tambien Lloran, then a scene of mild emotion turns into a mass confusion.

Los Ricós Tambien Lloran is a story filled with conflict and emotional rollercoasters. Lies and distrust fill the plot, coupled with class conflicts and conspiracy.

So why is it that the music can't seem to match the plot? Music cues at incorrect instances, swells that overshadows the dialogue...incidental music becomes almost accidental, and the effect is lost.

Because Televisa is.....CHEAP.

When a company doesn't want to pay royalties for music they used in a television show...they put their own in instead. And because of that, this telenovela--which I'm sure was once a magnificent piece--becomes hokey and difficult to watch at times.

Music is an important accent to emotion. It is not to be tossed about lightly, for the wrong music at the wrong time can ruin an entire mood.

Remembering Marimar

I underestimated Marimar yet at the same time I totally overestimated her. The telenovela is not quite what I remembered from having watched when I was six.
Certain things pop out now that I am older, wiser, and of course more critical of telenovelas thanks to Dr. A's class. For example, Marimar is annoying as hell. I just can't put it any other way. She is sickeningly naive and at times just stupid. Everyone in the telenovela, even the love of her life, has at some point called her salvaje, or savage. But what annoys me the most about Marimar is how she will fall into her wicked mother-in-law's evil plotting every time. You'd think she'd learn after the fifteenth time...
Of course, Sergio, prince charming, is simply too good to be true; but though he too is annoyingly naive, next to Marimar, he looks like a genius (and of course he is her savior).
But those glaring annoyances aside, some things that I totally forgot about Marimar are also some of the most entertaining. For example, the dog talks. How could I forget that Marimar's loyal companion talks? Like Marimar, he has an accent of those from la costa, or the coast, which everyone in Mexico makes fun of (well, at least my family does... maybe we're just mean). And Plugoso (which literally translates as the flea-ridden one), the dog, usually has one liners, which are suppose to provide comic relief, but to me are the equivalent of Alice's, the maid, zingers in the Brady Bunch. And again how could I forget that Marimar has a rich-soon-to-be-dead-father-who-left-her-at-birth? Of course, she would, and at the end of the telenovela she will have both Sergio's love and her father's money.
But despite all my Marimar cynicism, there's still something there with Marimar. I told one of my Latina friends this week that I was studying Marimar for a class and she started singing the entrada, which is honestly the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Marimar also. Not only that but Marimar has a whopping 1,845 fans on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=marimar&init=quick
Although that may not seem much compared to Kanye West (he's just been everywhere this week), you have take into consideration that this telenovela is 14 years old and I don't know many Latinos who have the courage to admit that they're a fan of Marimar... I know I don't... yet.

My telenovela pick

I chose Marimar. Did I choose Marimar because I had already watched it before and that would this whole assignment that much easier? Not really, you see I watched Marimar in 1994 when it was originally broadcast, but aside from the theme song and some character being badly burned in the series, I don't remember much. My mother later told me that I would talk to my madrina constantly about what was going on in the telenovela. When the series was reaching its ultimos capitulos, I was glued to the television.
Of course I know the main story of Marimar, but I would know that from just watching the entrada, which like every other video worth watching is on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl5mfciNQRg
I watched many a telenovela growing up, but Marimar is the first one I actually remember watching, and like any true Mexicana I set time aside to watch it, even at the tender age of six.
So, I chose Marimar for my analysis this semester. Maybe I chose it for nostalgic reasons, but I'd like to think that its my undying love for Thalia, which led me back to this classic telenovela.