Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Women and Love in Telenovelas

As I increase of my knowledge of the world of telenovelas, I have discovered the massive impact it has not only on the entertainment industry but on the audience. As we all know, the issues present in telenovelas can range from issues of love, deceit, violence, corruption and etc. But one issue that stood out to me was how love defined the characters of women. 

The common characteristic that is portrayed by women in telenovelas is the absolution of love. This stands out to me because despite the disregard of the woman as being poor, overly emotional, "white", and stereotypically pretty in modern telenovelas; the one thing that seems to never go away is the romanticization of romantic relationships. No matter how strong and independent these women appear to be in the beginning, they are always broken down by the tribulations of their love life. The popularity of this theme is questionable. Are telenovelas telling us that without romantic relationships we are not whole? Is it that love for just oneself is not enough? Is it that love is the one thing in life that can change who we are? Is love fuel to our ego? The idea of soulmate is the foundation for the telenovela. It has shown that no matter how well off one may be, love is the one thing that can better one's situation. For example in traditional telenovelas a poor woman would fall in love with a rich man and then by the end, life would be better. In more modern telenovelas, it is not only/no longer improvement of one's socioeconomic status that proves well being but the presence of stability. 

Why is it that in a telenovela, love is the beginning and the end? Is this a mechanism that proves to the audience that no man is an island? Is it because love is believed to give meaning to one's life? Why is it that love is so critical in the production of telenovelas? Specifically, why is love so important a key detail that defines the protagonists and determines the success of telenovelas?


As telenovelas portray, does love really conquer all?

4 comments:

  1. I like how in your post you pose a lot of questions regarding female independence and the effect of relationships on people's lives. I believe that these themes are present for the reason you mentioned in the last paragraph.
    People need each other. They need someone they can communicate with, someone to show them affection, and someone to help them start and raise a family. The portrayal of some of these characters, crippled by these relationships could be harmful. It shows that sense of dependence almost every leading woman in telenovelas have. Rather than normalizing and continuing this, modern telenovelas should fight to break this common practice alongside the deviations from Rosa plot structure.

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  2. I absolutely agree with this. As much as I LOVE telenovelas, I definitely struggle with the portrayal of women within them. It does seem like a lot of these relationships are toxic, especially to the women. In my telenovela, the female protagonist, Jade, repeatedly risks everything- including her life- to be with Lucas. Meanwhile, Lucas repeatedly fails to put anything on the line for his relationship with Jade. It seems like the second a conflict arises, he waves his white flag and leaves Jade to figure it out. The whole thing makes me SO angry. Half the time I want to scream: "YOU'RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR HER," and I want to sit down and have a serious conversation with Jade about loving yourself first, and not letting a man degrade you. It all goes into exactly what you're saying- love is not absolution.

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  3. I agree that often in telenovelas they seem to portray the female protagonists as almost "fake strong" or "fake confident". Perhasps it is rather the director of the telenovela wants the love story to seem as Telenovela Rosa as possible, by having the female protagonist very dependent on the the male protagonist. I feel like although there may not be any bad intentions behind this, but it continues to spread the idea that women are continuously dependent on men, when in reality there are women that are completely independent and do not require on a man for any aspect of their life. I would prefer telenovelas to start showing woman and men as partners, rather than someone who needs them to survive essentially.

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  4. I agree that often in telenovelas they seem to portray the female protagonists as almost "fake strong" or "fake confident". Perhasps it is rather the director of the telenovela wants the love story to seem as Telenovela Rosa as possible, by having the female protagonist very dependent on the the male protagonist. I feel like although there may not be any bad intentions behind this, but it continues to spread the idea that women are continuously dependent on men, when in reality there are women that are completely independent and do not require on a man for any aspect of their life. I would prefer telenovelas to start showing woman and men as partners, rather than someone who needs them to survive essentially.

    ReplyDelete