La Reina Del Sur: Style and Tone

Rosa style: Teresa falls in love with her
"prince charming", Guero

In the world of telenovelas, there are multiple styles and tones that are portrayed. First, there are the rosa telenovelas, which are Cinderella type stories. They are traditional and involve romance. The Cinderella is usually poor and naïve and eventually finds her “prince charming” whom she (or he) falls madly in love with. There is also the de ruptura, or realist, style. These are less fairytale and more real life stories. These styles are the two extremes that are represented in telenovelas.

Narconovela: men of the drug cartel

            Telenovelas are not limited to only one of these styles, however. My telenovela, La Reina Del Sur, is a combination of both of these styles. The whole story is surrounded around the love story of Teresa and Guero. She falls for a handsome man and she is naïve, in the way Cinderella would be. She is unaware of all that Guero does but she loves him anyway. This shows the style of rosa. De ruptura is shown through all the hardships she goes through. Because she loved Guero, she now is forced to deal with the consequences. She is chased by men who want to kill her and eventually has to escape to a different country. She has a job and works to support herself. Besides being on the run all time, Teresa is just a normal woman. This telenovela also happens to be a narconovela. These involves drugs and drug lords. Guero was part of a drug cartel and he made them angry before he died. These drug lords now want to kill Teresa. Teresa’s coworkers want to get her deported back to Mexico, so they plant drugs in her apartment. The use of drugs in this story are an important part of the plot and continue to be used throughout the story.

Thriller: Teresa running from people
trying to kill her. 

            As well as style, telenovelas also have a tone. There is humor, suspense, and even thrillers. La Reina Del Sur is a suspense because she is constantly on the run from bad guys and you don’t know what will happen to her. It is a thriller because many people are killed, even in harsh ways. Despite the seriousness of most of the circumstances, the writer manages to sneak some humor into the dialogue. This telenovela is filled with numerous tones all through the story.

            La Reina Del Sur is a mix of many styles and tones. I think this is what keeps it interesting. It is constantly switching from a love scene to a death scene and it keeps me wondering what will come next. If it were just one constant style, it would most likely end up being a little boring. This telenovela has a good blend and balance of all the styles and tones and its continuous uncertainty keeps me on my toes.