~WHAT I LEARNED~

Prior to taking this class, I had never seen a telenovela. Honestly, I did not know much about them and had no interest to watch them. Now that this class is over, I have a new knowledge about the world of telenovelas. After learning the ins and the outs of the industry, I gained a respect and realized that telenovelas are actually pretty good.

I thought telenovelas were just extremely dramatic stories told with bad acting. I guess I originally related telenovelas to soap operas, which I have seen and don’t particularly enjoy.  Because of that, I was a bit skeptical about watching one. Pleasantly, and to my surprise, I enjoyed my telenovela. Don’t get me wrong, it was filled with drama, but it was the good kind of drama that keeps you on your toes. The actors are extremely talented and the story was interesting to follow along. In class I learned about the difficulties the cast and crew go through to make each episode. Extremely long days, cold sets, awkward love scenes; just to name a few. And not only that, but they have to be able to have them ready to air every single night. That takes a lot of time and effort.

I also did not realize how popular telenovelas are and how broad of an audience they can reach. Telenovelas are known all around the world, not only in Hispanic countries. They have many tones and genres to reach as many people around the world. From love stories to narconovelas, there is something out there for everyone. It reaches to a large audience and boy do those people get hooked. Whether it’s the cliffhanger at the end of an episode, or the death of your favorite character, telenovelas make you want to watch more and more. Sometimes entire countries tune in to the telenovelas and people really do invest their lives into these.

There is usually a pretty general story each telenovela follows. It starts with a love interest between two protagonists. You see how in love they are, and as the audience, all you want is for them to be together. However, there is always an antagonist that tries to mess that up. They create drama and try to separate the protagonists. The end goal is to keep the protagonist couple together because they are perfect together and are meant to be.  While most telenovelas include these factors, they use different storylines to keep things interesting and not make them all the same.

Overall, this class taught me a lot of information I did not know I was missing. I am glad that I had the chance to learn about different countries and be exposed to a different language. It broadened my view on the television that people watch all around the world. It’s always fun to study something new and gain an understanding of it. I enjoyed this class, as well as my telenovela. Who knows, maybe I’ll watch some more. THE END.