Telenovelas, Culture & Society - Fall 2022

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing from all the amazing writers, producers, and actors we’ve met over the last few weeks. It’s amazing how much and how quickly the industry is changing at the spur of the streaming age. It was so interesting to me to hear all the nuances in the Telenovela world today.  Particularly, one of the things I found most intriguing was how Roberto Stopello and El Chascas explained that a new model that many production teams are shifting into is to place writers in the showrunner role as well. As an Entertainment and Media Studies major, I’ve never thought about this before, but it makes so much sense. Everything El Chascas explained is so true. Having the writer double as showrunner really does open up the way for creative solutions and plot driven innovations that someone who does not know the characters inside and out can’t quite replicate.  I really enjoyed hearing from the writers in specific, as they all sounded so passionate and invested about the stories they

     Me encanta aprender cosas de diferentes culturas. Creo que es muy importante ser informada sobre los artes del mundo para apreciar a las cosas que son importantes para nuestros amigos. Por eso creo que la clase de Telenovelas fue tan interesante para mi. Estar en una clase donde todos los estudiantes quieren saber mas sobre mi cultura fue muy alegrante. Las telenovelas siempre han sido una parte de mi vida, y me gusto mucho que aunque unos estudiantes nunca han visto telenovelas, estuvieron en clase con preguntas y oídos listos para aprender.       A veces en las clases de español me siento un poco incómoda, especialmente cuando hablamos sobre mi cultura. Nunca se como mis alumnos van a responder o si les importa aprender. Pero, en esta clase, todos los estudiantes eran tan atentos y entusiasmos, y se podía ver que les importo aprender. Especialmente en mi grupo de presentaciones, mis alumnos hicieron muy buen trabajo en saber mucho de las telenovelas y hicieron buenos investigaci

      Telenovelas have been very successful and followed for many years. I'm 21-years-old, and I remember watching telenovelas when I got home from school in 2010. My mom grew up watching telenovelas in the 1980's. But the world has changed a lot since the beginning of telenovelas - how much longer will they be around?     When telenovelas first started airing on television in the 1950's, the world was a much simpler place. It made sense for the concept of a telenovela to do well, because there wasn't as much going on. It was common for women and children to be at home while men worked, and the women and children needed something to fill their time. Scheduled programming with an exciting and turbulent plot was sure to do well when there was a huge audience ready to watch. And given that women and children were spending so much time at home, they could devote enough time to watch the great deal of episodes each telenovela would put out.      Today, it's far less comm

      I have to say that I absolutely loved the telenovela conversations that we got to have with people who are so accomplished in the industry. I told so many of my friends about the people we would get to speak to as a class and I'd consider those two classes as one of the highlights of my academic experience at UGA. One of the specific things I enjoyed that intrigued me was noticing connections between our speakers — there were common themes.      Today, Leonardo Padrón spoke about how he incorporates reality into fiction extensively. Other than his very first telenovela, Padrón did lots of originals until he was asked to reinterpret the telenovela that was the foundation for Amar a Muerte. He said the tricky thing about reinterpretations is that it can be difficult to connect to the work. So, he used reality as a tool that opened doors in the creative process resulting in him feeling more connected, invested, and passionate. (Side note: I found this point very interesting to h

     Para empezar, volviendo a la investigación que mi equipo descubrió para la presentación de “Los Diferentes," la mayoría de las respuestas negativas de la audiencia para El Clon se relacionan con la decepción del final de la telenovela. Hay muchas comparaciones con la telenovela original, O Clon, y declaraciones sobre cómo el final fue inconcluso y insatisfactorio. Muchas telenovelas, después de todo el amor, la muerte, las peleas y los engaños, terminarán en una gran boda feliz.       Después de 183 episodios, hay mucho énfasis en con quién termina con Jade. Daniel y Lucas están en la boda del tío Ali (ahí está esa boda) y Daniel casi encuentra a Jade, pero termina escapando con Albieri para que no lo encuentren y lo lleven a prisión por crear un clon. Aquí es donde se vuelve confuso. Dora se queda esperando al regreso de su hijo, Daniel, pero no sabemos qué pasará. Al menos podemos ver a Lucas y Jade juntos al final, como se predijo. Puedo ver que esta es una televenola r

  Throughout this semester, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know the art of telenovelas. The foreign thought prior to this course has allowed me to learn of cultures and the differences in production from Colombia, to Turkey, to Brazil, and all over the world. However, above all, I’ve gotten to know more about my classmates and what telenovelas mean to them.   I didn’t grow up watching telenovelas. In fact, I barely learned of any culture other than my own until high school. My community did not have a strong emphasis on cultural appreciation, a regret I hold deeply from my upbringing. When I was in first grade, I elected to take a Spanish class. It quickly became my favorite subject. I carried on until my senior year of high school, where the advanced classes took weekly trips to a a strip mall north of Atlanta, called “Plaza Fiesta.” This was by far the highlight of my week. We met with many of the vendors in the mart, who cooked us authentic Mexican meals and conversed about the

     The timing is perfect for this final blogpost and my telenovela coinciding with real life events. As the World Cup group stage nears its end, we have witnessed passion for peoples' nations that can only truly be experienced at the World Cup. The Olympics don't even instill this much nationalism anymore, yet the World Cup brings everyone together from all over the world to connect more than ever. This is ironic especially this year as the World Cup has unified many countries to speak out against the host, Qatar.      The main connection to my telenovela I've witnessed, however, is the true intense passion that the game brings to players for the country. In my telenovela, the main players constantly emphasize their need to play for the Colombian international team. They care about playing soccer, but more than anything they strive for the chance to represent their country; the greatest honor there is.     My telenovela is defined as a bionovela; telling the stories of re