Sex + Its Ties to Culture
Though this is a class on telenovelas, we have been able to consume content from many different countries. For starters, even though many Americans consolidate Latin America into one unit, as we've learned throughout the semester there are many differences between these countries. Political, social, and cultural differences lead to different entertainment industries. But even beyond that, we have focused on the entertainment industry in Turkey as the telenovela style has blossomed there.
The other day in class, the scene we watched from that one Turkish novela (forgive me, I cannot remember the name and I'm pretty sure it's not Yargı) where it alluded to two characters having sex. Then, we watched the version that the show released on social media that was more explicit. Though, I will say that the explicit version was significantly tamer than other American shows I have watched or even compared to clips that we have watched in class.
Telenovelas are associated with romance, passion, and chemistry. Therefore, it's not surprising that many telenovelas feature steamy scenes that feel awkwardly uncomfortable to watch with others. Even a quick Google search pulled up this article featuring different sex scenes from telenovelas, most of them seeming on the older side. At first, I wondered if some weren't very famous or well-known but then saw La Reina del Sur.
In Turkey, you would never be able to watch scenes like that. Turkey's regulatory body of broadcasted media, Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK) is known for being very firm. As of 2019, RTÜK is even able to supervise the content created by online content providers. Sex scenes and kissing is considered obscene and immoral and anyone who oversteps regulations is fined or can have their licenses taken away.
I couldn't help but laugh at the thought of how horrified RTÜK would be in response to a show like Bridgerton being aired in Turkey. This soapy romantic period piece created by Netflix was a sensation not just in the United States but was also watched by 82 million households around the world. While I personally loved Bridgerton, everyone knows that the show itself includes various fairly explicit sex scenes. Its first season was known for a montage in episode 6 that had many jaws dropping by just how smutty the show was willing to go.
It's incredibly interesting to think about the ties to television and sex being tied to culture or even can be a surprising departure. In Turkey, hearing about the firm media regulations related to sex wasn't at all surprising. The United States having a plethora of steamy scenes on television isn't surprising. But I will admit, with the context of how dominant catholicism is in Latin America I was a bit surprised. Religion is typically very disapproving of sexuality, so considering the spicy scenes in telenovelas are normally showing people who aren't married I'd expect that disapproval of sexuality to be reflected in the media. So the fact that it's not the case is a bit surprising and I wonder how the media and telenovelas' approach toward sex has evolved over time.
Marillyn, I really like your point about how telenovelas are so successful in Latin America (where countries are predominately Catholic) despite their steamy, romantic scenes. I was reflecting on your sentence about how you thought the media would disapprove of these sexual scenes because of the Latin America's religious background. I have also thought about this question, and I wondered if the television screen helps put a theoretical barrier between telenovelas and religious beliefs. People are able to turn the television on/off, change the channel, etc., all of which would make it easier for a person to "allow" telenovelas in and out of their lives as they see fit. In other words, I think people can say to themselves, "This isn't real-life, so it's fine to watch because I am not a part of it." Since people can distance themselves from these scenes, I'm thinking it's easy for them to draw that distinction, highlighting the fictional aspect of the telenovelas.
ReplyDeleteThis really made me think about what each country views as too sexual. It immediately reminded me of a time when I lived and Spain and was taking spanish classes at a local university. The professor played a clip of a Spanish show which showed a woman completely nude. I was shook and was like "this would not be normal/allowed in an University in the United States." But it's completely normal in Spanish culture because the the feminine figure, especially breasts, aren't as sexualized in Spain as they are here in America. I think touching on how Catholicism plays a big part in how steamy these scenes are in true as well. I just looked it up and around 56% of Spaniards identify as catholic while South American countries like Mexico have much higher estimates like 80% of the public identifying as Catholic. I wonder if its a direct correlation?
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