Tomasa Tequiero as Cinderella

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 "Tomasa Tequiero" is a Venezuelan telenovela that aired between 2009 and 2010. Tomasa Tequiero was a maid to a wealthy family who left the life insurance to her. She was responsible for caring for the couple's two daughters. 

Venevisión retransmitirá «Tomasa te quiero» desde este lunes - 800Noticias

At the time of its release, it was seen as revolutionary and modern that Venevision had casted a person of color, Gledys Ibarra, as the protagonist. But Tomasa was a maid. It seems as if Venevision was on a mission to add a person of color into their telenovela and did not put the thought of having a person of color as a less demeaning role. 

Maids are usually seen as not important in Latin America, so having a person of color as a maid as the protagonist can be seen as a micro-agression towards the community Venevision attempted to represent.

Tomasa Tequiero is a Cinderella telenovela. Tomasa is a maid who overnight becomes a millionaire. She quite literally has a rags to riches story. She also goes through obstacles such as dealing with an evil grandmother and a greedy uncle. These are the people she must deal to take care of the girls now that she inherited the insurance money from their parents. This is the typical storyline of a cinderella plot. You have a lady who is poor. She faces many obstacles but at the end of the story, she finds love and is financially well off. She gets a happy ending. Tomasa does get a happy ending at the end of her telenovela.

Although she begins as a maid, Tomasa ends up as a well-off woman with a happy ending.

Comments

  1. Maddie LangOctober 27, 2022 at 10:29 AM

    This was a lovely analysis, Brisa! I remember learned about "Tomasa Tequiero" in class, and it really struck me as a unique storyline from the others. I do find it really fascinating that casting Gledys Ibarra was rather revolutionary for the time even though she was cast as a maid. It's almost as if the telenovela industry decided it wanted to show more diversity but didn't think a normal cinderella plot line would successful with someone other than the mainstream definition of beauty. Perhaps it is a step in the right direction, but since 2009, there's not been much advancement in this aspect. I hope in the future there can be more representation in the telenovela industry in this aspect (just like the new version of Ariel).

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