Telenovelas, Culture & Society - Fall 2022

     Something I found myself actively thinking about is the universality of certain archetypes or television styles across cultures. Sure, there are things that vary but at a lot of media's core are longstanding patterns that are reinvented time and time again.       When we discussed the rosa/traditional style of telenovela we mentioned the cinderella archetype. In these types of telenovelas, women tend to be innocent and fall in love with a man out of her league (whether that be economically or in social standing) who never fails to fall victim to the efforts of the antagonist trying to keep the two apart. In the end, the man and woman end up together and live happily ever after. What really got me thinking was the point that the context of the story in this archetype is irrelevant and simply decorative because everything about the love story stays the same. This is totally true.      Thinking back to the movies I watched growing up, ...

When I was a child, my parents used to have friends over every week for a churrasco (a traditional Brazilian cookout). Together, they would grill meat, drink beer and play the saddest music I can imagine. Those were heartfelt songs about love and loss: men would sing about parting ways with their loved ones , about not being loved back , and about being replaced by a better man . Back then I could not understand their idea of a party: an all-day journey of happiness and drinking sprinkled with moments of deep sadness and sorrow. At that time, I was too young to understand that my parents were planning to get a divorce. Maybe that was their way of mourning for the end before it came. Soon I learned that those bittersweet celebrations were not my family’s legacy. They were a part of our culture: a culture of middle-aged men drinking and singing heartbreaking music at bars; a culture of drowning our sorrows in cheap beer with the waiter as your only friend. I remember joining my fathe...

  Welcome! Here you will practice the fundamentals of critical thinking via blogging about telenovelas. Your blog entries should reflect your thought process and your learning experience as you go through the course . In other words, your posts should be a thoughtful (and creative) expression of yourself. If you wish, you can complement the entries with images or other media.   Specifically, blog entries will be of two types: Open topic entries : With the exception of the post due on March 23, which should be a reflection on what you learn about telenovela production , you are free to analyze, comment and/or reflect on any of the topics and readings we will cover in class. You can also write about the telenovela(s) you are analyzing for your class assignments. Be warned that mere description won’t meet my expectations .   Responses/comments to entries : A good blog builds a community. In that spirit, you should comment on the entries posted by your classmates or by me, be...