For those of you who do not know what a telenovela is, let me begin by explaining that it is a Spanish television version of a soap opera. There are many going on all day long on any of a variety of Spanish television stations here in the U.S. They don't continue on for years, like American soaps do, they usually end in about 3 months or so. Sometimes the story is a historical novela with lovely costumes and settings but whether the story is set in the past or modern times, they always have the same underlying themes.
There is always a conflict between the rich priviledged class and the poor working class. The main romance in the story always takes one character from each class, making love all the more complicated! There is always an extremely evil person, or several evil persons, but one or two are the most evil person you may think you have ever seen. Evil is motivated by selfishness in the extreme and the evil person will go to any extreme to get what they want, deceit and murder topping the list. To me, some of the evil characters have been written as the embodiment of Satan himself. It takes a really good actor to pull it off. Some actors are just so good at being so evil.
Of course, there is always a sweet demure female and an extremely good looking male in leading roles. Oh yes, there is also a great cast of characters who take you on lots of little side stories so that you get to know each one's strengths and weaknesses. Pretty soon these characters will begin to seem like real people who have now entered into your circle of acquaintances. There are some women who just are so good at crying that I usually see them in the role of a woman who suffers and cries quite a bit. Recently I saw an article about the telenovelas that spoke about how now the male actors are expected to show more emotion and tears. I had just been noticing that myself and wondered about it. I suppose it is because today we want men to be more sensitive and show emotion, even tears. The entire story is always full of misunderstandings and jumping to conclusions, just like in real life. The human condition is universal and multicultural, and it is always the same, regardless of historical time frame.
Often a priest will be a main character and in all stories, there is always reference to church, or frequent visits to a Virgin of Guadalupe shrine for prayers and petitions. The stories always involve family complications of life. The strength of the family is always emphasized and often really wonderful unity is around someone being hurt or falling gravely ill. There are always frequent hospital scenes. There are always mothers, grandmother and grandfather characters, many of whom are full of wisdom and advice that they give to the other characters in the story. The one I am watching right now has a lovely heavy set grandmother, so full of kindness and wisdom, who is actually falling in love with a wise grandfather type. They are so cute! Gives me hope!
The novelas have some very good purposes. I know, I get lots of teasing and flack for watching at least one novela, but they helped me learn quite a bit. First of all, it challenges me to understand Spanish better. Often I learn new words and through the context I learn how they might be used. My mom and I used to compare notes on what we were watching. Second, I get to see what is perceived as traditional Hispanic lifestyle and family dynamics, something I can relate to from when I was a child. My life with my own immediate family was a blend of Marker/Rodriguez, kind of German/Mexican? We used to laugh and say that our family culture was Californian Multi-cultural and quite normal for our time. But seriously, if you have many Hispanic families around you and who are your friends, knowing what the Hispanic culture is like is a benefit.
In spite of all the worldliness and sexy, worldly themes in these novelas, they still reflect the culture. I don't like many of them because they are too young, too worldly, but I just love the romantic ones like the ones I described above. Children in Spanish speaking homes often see novelas. You might think that is terrible TV for them, but are English TV shows teaching better morals and values? I doubt it. But they are watching with their parents, which is a nice thing and it too will help them retain their Spanish language. I once actually used the novela to explain some literary features to some "totally bored" 5th graders. I asked them how many saw a certain novela, lots of hands went up and their eyes got huge when they discovered I watched it too. We then returned to the topic we were looking at, "climax." I was so pleased, they got it and it "was now fun."
So there you have it! I watch novelas because I like studying the humans, I feel I improve my Spanish and also learn to understand more dialects and different accents, I love good romance stories and I like historical novels. I like the passion with which each character is developed and if I don't like a story, if it is too offensive in some way, I can just click it off or choose another. By the way, I record each one on my DVR, just in case you call me or I have to attend to something, I can go back and catch up!! Technology is on my side.
Blessings, Jeannee
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