The Perfect Imperfection

Advertising creates identity. This does not necessarily mean the actual advertisements in the media, but the way in which they portray our society today. The media has a heavy influence on people’s behaviors and actions, and within the popular culture, meanings are fighting with each other and giving off different vibes and motives.

For many young adults who are still learning about themselves and the world, this could be an extremely frustrating thing. For example, young adults---whether it be from their parents, professors, peers, or the modern culture in general---are offered a wide-range of opportunities. They are taught to “Make good grades. Do everything. Be Involved. Get a top job when you graduate.” While these are all ambitious and encouraging messages, they are also taught to “Be yourself. Have fun. Don’t work too hard.” Clearly, these are contradictory messages. Both pieces of advice are beneficial on their own, but not when they are put together.

Media and advertising are also throwing out clashing messages by showcasing flawless perfect women, while at the same time, warning against the dangers of eating disorders and being obsessed with appearances.

As we wrap up our discussions on representation and identity, I think this concept applies to many of the characters in telenovelas. The more that the characters are influenced by contradictory culture ambitions, the more they become someone they are not. The antagonist in La Mentira, Virginia, goes through this process as she changes from what appears to be a sweet, innocent woman, to an evil vengeful liar. She is influenced by the terrible pressures of the outside world, which ultimately cause her to lose her identity. She goes so far, that eventually her family does not want to associate with her.

The bar for achievement continues to rise for each generation, and so do the hypocritical pressures of the media world. We must be stable with who we are so we are not susceptible to these negative changes. 

Consumption and Identity in My Telenovela

It's human nature. We love to pick and prod and pit one against the other. Conflict fascinates us. So, it only makes sense that as consumers of pop culture we'd gravitate towards programs that do the same thing. In America, we're no strangers to the cat-fight culture. Here, we're either "Pro-Jennifer" or " Team Angelina" in the battle for Brad. And for avid Grey's fans everywhere, there's not a single viewer that didn't pledge their allegiance to either Dr.McDreamy or the endearing George in the quest for Meredith's love and affection. 

Today, in class we learned how the same type of fascination exists in the telenovela world. For one, in the telenovela adaptation of Doña Barbara we discussed the vast distinction between those viewers who were "Barbaritas" and those who were "Mariselistas." The fans, much like here in the states, take an almost quasi-political view in favor of whom ever they side with. For example, as we saw today, those who are " Barbaritas" take offense to those who favor the "manipulative" Marisela. Likewise, those who favor Marisela don't understand the mentality of someone on the "Barbarita" side. Afterall, in their eyes, Barbara was a cruel, murderous person. 

At first thought, it seems that my telenovela has no such tryst. Afterall, in "La Fea Más Bella", Lety, the show's protagonist (or the adaptation of Colombia's "Betty") is the only female to root for. We can't pit Lety against the fiance of her lover, Marcia. Marcia is not relatable and an overall evil character. We also can't pit Lety against Alicia, her competitor as secretary at the PR firm Conceptos because likewise, Alicia is mean and conniving. 

However, after thinking it through, I realized that "La Fea Más Bella" didn't altogether steer away from the love games that the telenovela adaptation of "Doña Barbara" exhibited. In Lety's story, two lovers constantly vie for the ugly duckling's attention with equal sincerity and affection for Lety. Here, I can see where the viewer distinctions may be made into two groups; one group rooting for the lovesick chairman Don Fernañdo who once betrayed Lety but now holds undying love, and the other advocating the triumph of Aldo Domenzain, Lety's sweet and generous fiance. Watching " La Fea", I found myself torn between choosing the two characters, but my choice was Aldo. I chose Aldo, even knowingly, that he would likely not be with Lety in the end. However, because of his initial sincerity and genuine love for Lety right from the get-go, he became the character I saw most deserving of her love. 

By the end of the Tele, we find out that Aldo is in fact a saint brought from the heavens to save Lety and ensure that she ends up with the true love of her life, Don Fernando. Nonetheless, I still remain apart of "Team Aldo" in my tele's audience. 

Too much too fast, but still addictive

I truly enjoyed watching my telenovela, La usurpadora, but I think the abridged version definitely took away from the experience. The fast paced scenes left little room for character development. For example, it didn’t show the transformation of Paulina into her role as Paola as it happened. In one scene she was a shy, long haired girl in modest clothing and the next she had a bob haircut with a sleek, sexy dress. Of course you understand what happened even with these scenes edited out but jumping from one major event to the next with no bridge feels less satisfying. Your emotions need a break once in a while!

I do admit that the abridged version held my attention well – I was so afraid I’d miss something if I turned around for even a second. I became pretty attached to the characters, and hope Paolina would eventually get over her naivety and pursue her own happiness.

I am curious to see how the abridged versions of telenovelas are consumed differently than those currently on air. I wonder if viewers watch DVD versions in installments or if they sit down for marathons.

Another interesting part of this experience is that my DVD didn’t have English subtitles. If my friends were over while I had it playing they would try to guess what was happening and then what would happen next and then what happened before....they got into it without having a clue as to what the characters were saying. I suppose this gives testimony to the globalization of telenovelas!

Sprinkle in some fair tale elements and see what you get

Telenovelas take the Latin American audience away from a dismal, gloomy reality for a short period of time. This applies to kid/teen telenovelas too, and in addition, fairy tale elements are added in the mix to kick it up a notch.

My telenovela Lola...Érase una vez is a cinderella fairy tale story with magical elements (talking fairies, magical tree, magical vines) and of course, the romantic fair tale ending, typical of the telenovela dramatic structure and most fairy tale stories.

Before I start researching about the consumption and reception of my telenovela, I am thinking about why and how magical fairy tales are able to suck the young girls in so much.

Fairy tales take the viewers to many places of fantasy, allowing them to see many things that they wouldn’t normally see in real life. Magic is attractive and enthralling. Young girls around the world love magical-mystical happenings and want to believe in happy love. They want to star as a princess in their own life movie.
Girls idealize romance and love, and so they eat up the Cinderella princess stories!
So, in Latin America where reality is difficult and trying, I suppose with these two factors combined it’s one of the reasons why the Cinderella telenovela (Lola...Érase una vez ) was so successful and receptive among Latin American teens. This is just my hypothesis..more to come as I do consumption research!

para la Navidad

Already on my Christmas list is the dvd set of Ciudad Bendita. It seems to be entertaining, I fell in love with Marisa Román (in an admiring fan sort of way), and I greatly respect the work both her and Leonardo Padrón. Ciudad Bendita seems to be one of the best productions of both the actress and the writer. Dr. A's research reveals the strong following this particular telenovela acquired from its fans, and for good reason.
I am drawn to watch the same telenovela that swept up hearts across Venezuela, but I am surprised by the awareness most latin american viewers lack. They are unaware of the social messages underlying carefully crafted novela scripts, specifically those by Padrón, and yet they watch and wait for his next novela release. They have not realized that it is Padrón's scripts' intelligent, wholesome qualities that attract them as consumers.
As much as Padrón tries to use tv to speak real messages to latinamericans, there is a disconnect. Dr. A said viewers are more hyper-sensitive to political messages written in novelas, and yet in real life it seems they are unaware of ways in which Chávez is mistreating the poor. The people accustom themselves to the "below model par" looks of the male protagonist in Ciudad Bendita, yet they cannot grasp the same message for the female protagonist--her physique (including her limp) is beautiful even with its "imperfections."
Makes me wonder, how many U.S. media messages are we missing? How far do we disconnect from the script-writer's intent? Are we so obsessed with our own political stances and social expectations that we refuse to change and see change in our own television shows?

Wait... pay attention.

Sin tetas no hay paraíso evokes laughter whenever translated.

Preparing for the worst, I expected a low production quality, C-class acting and a story held together by paperclips and duct tape. A couple beers might take the edge off, so my roommate and I made the best of the telenovela to come. To his misfortune, no subtitles. Brace yourself.

The spectacle that followed could be described as a low-grade, soft-core porno dubbed with music from Who Wants to be a Millionaire, laced with blatant boob-bias that made any onlooker's jaw drop to the floor.

Once we realized a show was taking place behind the montage of silicon and bronzed, busting flesh (seriously, at one point a side-boob shot was literally half the screen), the protagonist appeared and the looming issue was soon apparent. Her breast size was probably a third of every other female on screen.

What a way to begin a show. The director obviously was trying to engrain the small-boob complex into the mind of every viewer in the first 5 minutes. And the first two episodes were an orgy full. It honestly made it hard to concentrate on the dialogue.

Can't Stop Thinking About It

I finished my Telenovela over the weekend and although the entire thing was enjoyable, the last eight hours were by far the best. There is just one thing that keeps nagging me to the point where I am thinking about it and analyzing it over and over. I was so torn when Bruce decided he never wanted to see Rosita ever again. He hated her, his words we so hurtful and spiteful. His pride was crushed. He acted as if he couldn't stand the sight of her, when really her still loved her. It took me a while to figure this out. Whenever the two were in a room together, he would start on a rampage and I would think to my self "Wow, they really are never going to end up together because Bruce just won't give in and listen." Bruce who I once compared to Edward in Twilight, was now the epitome of hatred.

The actor did a really good job of portraying his feelings of hate for Rosita, almost too good of a job. I never knew that jealousy could drive a person that mad but it makes sense. He loved Rosita so much. He grew to lover her as Rosita when she was only beautiful on the inside, and he loved Rosita as Violeta when she was beautiful on the outside. It was an undying love, so strong and so passionate. His heart never wavered in another direction, even when he was married he could barely make love to his wife for he was constantly thinking about Rosita. I had to interpret all of this myself because unless they cut it out, there was never a scene where Bruce verbalized all of this. He just basically found out that Rosita was pregnant with his child and went soft. I would have liked for him to have had a conversation with her expressing all of this because even in the last scene, it was hard for me to be convinced that he was truly past all of his hatred.

I am tempted to go back to the beginning and watch the scenes where he is in love with Rosita and Violeta just to make myself feel better about the ending. I wanted to be convinced that he was truly in love with her the whole time and his hatred was driven by jealousy of Fabian and his pride which was crushed. I guess I should realize that not all love stories are like that of Edward and Bella, where Bella could basically do anything and still have Edwards unconditional praises. The reality of it is, people get mad and angry and jealous all the time, and even though they can still love a person sometimes those feelings are so strong that they impede everything else. I think I will go back and watch those beginning episodes, then maybe I can finally stop thinking about it!

La transformación

The change came. And not a moment too soon. Honestly, I was so tried of Marimar and her tribulations in the first DVD of the three part two-sided DVD set that I was more or less forcing myself to watch the telenovela. The drama was high and as melodramatic as I remember it, but like I wrote in my last blog post, Marimar was just too annoying. I honestly did not like her character, and maybe its just me and my cold, cold heart but I thought she more or less deserved all that happened to her because of her naiveté. But thankfully Marimar was put in jail for a whole ten minutes, came out, met her long lost father, and he transformed her into todo una dama in less than five minutes.
(After some searching, I found the three minute transformation of Marimar on youtube in Greek. I didn't know Greeks also liked this telenovela, but either way here it is. The montage I'm talking about starts two minutes in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys50Q71i7K4&feature=related).
This Marimar, well this new Marimar is someone I can root for. Sure she's rude at times, selfish a lot times, and way too high strung for my taste, but at least she's not helpless and whining all the time. After la transformación, I was able to finish watching my telenovela within a couple of days, as I no longer had to force myself to watch it, but was actually interested in Marimar and all her melodrama.

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.

on those characters we love to hate

So what makes a villain?

The telenovela I’m watching has all sorts of antagonists all bent in some form or another of keeping Monica and Juan del Diablo apart. But I’m having difficulty choosing that big-bad character to dislike. For example there’s Aimee, Monica’s sister and Juan’s former lover. Aimee is very free-spirited for her time, which won her points for me, but who ends up forsaking Juan to marry Andres, Monica’s former fiancé. She seems like the typical spoiled sister until Monica means to marry Juan, then she seethes with jealousy and doesn’t miss a chance to taunt her sister with the fact that she loved and had Juan first. Yet, Aimee is still a relatable character, she is silly but her jealousy is justified (if annoying).

Then there’s Doña Sofia, Andres’ mother and Juan’s stepmother. She sent Juan away as a young boy for being the bastard son of her deceased husband, ignoring his final wish that Andres and Juan grow as brother. Doña Sofia is calculating, shrew, and a very protective mother. But even at her worst the facts make her a redeemable character. Would you want the kid your husband had out of wedlock running around your house? Wouldn’t you want what’s best for your only son, whatever the cost?

Finally there’s the local army commander, Capitan Espíndola. He is the chief of prison and is, during his brief stay in the story, the closest we get to the big-bad-wolf. Capitan Espindola is as deplorable as they come. He arrests Juan because he’s bribed into doing so and sees no issue in selling whatever pretty girl is brought into the prison to the local brother owner. He takes advantage of his position of power but comes to a quick end.

That’s another thing about these villains and attagonists, their tragic endings. Aimee, the former wild child, ends up dying in a riding accident; Doña Sofia ends up losing the thing she spent her whole life protecting, her son. Capitan Espindola is the unmourned victim of Juan’s escape from prison. It would seem that coming between the protagonists is a very hazardous decision.