IN MY TELENOVELA CLASS: A conversation with writer Alberto Gómez

We had our second "Telenovela Conversation" with writer Alberto Gómez, who understands very well the commercial dimensions of the telenovela genre. When network executives and producers want an original or a remake of a telenovela rosa, Alberto Gómez is a name that always appears in their short list of possible writers. Hence, he has written telenovelas for a long list of networks and production companies, including: RCTV, Venevisión, Televisa, Fonovideo, Venevisión Productions and Telemundo. Alberto is the author of many telenovelas. Some of his recent successes include: Gata Salvaje, Angel Rebelde, Marina, Acorralada and Alma Indomable. He's currently writing Mar de Amor for Televisa, a remake of Delia Fiallo's María del Mar.

Alberto delighted my class with his sincerity and enthusiasm. Through him were were able to see better the telenovela rosa, we got closer to the daily writing effort that every telenovela requires, and we felt the happiness of someone who enjoys what he does.

Here is a video with excerpts from our class conversation. I hope you will enjoy it as much as we did. I leave it here along with our thanks to Alberto Gómez for sharing with us his time, experience and passion for the telenovela rosa.

CORIN TELLADO HAS PASSED AWAY

A brief post to report that Corín Tellado, has passed away at the age of 81. She was the queen of romantic fiction (folletín). Her real name was  María del Socorro Tellado López and she wrote more than  4,000 novels that were translated into several languages.  She sold more than 400 million copies of these novels.


Telenovelas have an undeniable link to the literature of folletín and Corín Tellado influenced writers who are devoted to the telenovela rosa. Her work suffered the same reception paradox of telenovelas: genres of mass consumption and mass deprecation. 

I should mention also that the telenovela I'm currently studying, LA VIDA ENTERA, has a direct link to Corín Tellado and the literature of folletín. LA VIDA ENTERA is located in a magazine for women. In the telenovela, the character Licenciado Bruno Merchán (Héctor Manrique), writes a folletín under the pseudonym "Crucita Volcán", in which he tells the story of suffering lovers "Lirio del Valle" and "Francisco José" , and the obstacles imposed by the evil "Artemio". It's a novela inside the telenovela. 

BEYOND CINDERELLA?

Thanks to the invitation of LACSA (Latin American and Caribbean Studies Association), I did a presentation in honor of Women's History Month titled: Beyond Cinderella: The Representation(s) of Women in Telenovelas.

Preparing this presentation challenged me. First, I never know how much information my audience already has about telenovelas. Second, the presentation should mix description and analysis.



I decided that the best way to explain the many Cinderellas that have populated telenovelas was to show examples. Therefore, I showed clips of famous telenovela Cinderellas: different versions of Simplemente María, La Zulianita, Marimar, etc. Later I showed some recent variations on the Cinderella theme: Todos Quieren con Marilyn and Juana La Virgen. I also commented on telenovela women who broke the Cinderella mold, such as the protagonists of El País de las Mujeres. Finally, I reflected about the possible reasons for the global success of Cinderellas.



The presentation was a gratifying experience. The room was full with members of the University community: students, faculty and staff members. I was asked interesting questions that centered on the enigma of the continuous success of telenovela Cinderellas around the world. This is an important question. Its answer isn't easy to pinpoint in a genre with as many paradoxes as the telenovela has.

IN MY TELENOVELAS CLASS: DANIELA BASCOPE

The semester's end is fast approaching and there are only two weeks left in my Telenovelas class. Yesterday we had a special guest via phone: talented actor, director and writer, Daniela Bascopé, who shared with us her time and experiences.

A few weeks ago, Daniela received the Best Actress Award in the Venezuelan Film Festival in Mérida for her role in film Al Borde de la Línea:



Below, a list of the telenovelas in which she has appeared and the names of her characters:

Ciudad Bendita (2007)- Fedora
El Amor las vuelve Locas (2006)- Rosaura
Engañada (2003)-Gabriela
La Soberana (2002)- Cherry
Toda Mujer (1999)- Elízabeth
Samantha (1998)-Anabella

Daniela talked to us about the hardest character she ever played (was in film), how her acting experience is a great asset for her work as director, and the way real life inspires the films she writes and directs.

When we asked her if, as an actress, she felt any difference between working in a telenovela "rosa" (most of the telenovelas she's worked in are "rosa") or in a more "verista" telenovela (like Ciudad Bendita), Daniela explained that in the traditional telenovela rosa, a character's lines are more farfetched and less realist than in telenovelas like the ones Leonardo Padrón writes. She also mentioned that in the traditional telenovela, actors must handle situations that are even contradictory,  where their characters don't follow a logic line. In contrast, in telenovelas "veristas" or "de ruptura", the words and actions of the characters tend to be more realistic.

Daniela's words resonated with me and echoed those of the many actors I've interviewed during my research. In particular, throughout Ciudad Bendita, many actors told me that their character was a "pleasure" because it was "served" to them.

In sum, it was a special class thanks to our special guest. My students and I sendour sincere gratitude to Daniela.

Telenovela: Lingua Franca

I'm still in Belgrade, the city that has been destroyed totally or partially about 40 times. In this part of the world tradition and modernity coexist in a space in which on one side of a street we can see the most beautiful monument and on the other side there is a partially destroyed building, gutted in the last bombing that this city received.

I'm still participating in the Cox Center workshop at Belgrade University. Here, in contrast to my experience in the U.S., I haven't had to explain once what the word telenovela means. Here, both students and faculty find it fascinating that I study these melodramas, and they're constantly bringing up the topic in our conversations. Here in Serbia the telenovela is an international media product, but not a foreign one. Serbians are very familiar with telenovelas and it's almost impossible not to find one on TV whenever I turn it on.



Professors and students tell me that until a couple of years ago most telenovelas broadcast here were from Venezuela. Now Mexico clearly dominates the airwaves. The first (and most common) possible explanation for this might be that Serbian audiences prefer Mexican telenovelas, which are more traditional, rosa and melodramatic than their Venezuelan counterparts. However, this should be studied. Because how do we know whether these TV stations are receiving good offers that include Venezuelan quality telenovelas? What if those who make purchasing decisions are under the (probably wrong) perception that Serbians prefer traditional telenovelas, simply because they--the decision makers--are so used to these traditional stories that they reject any that break the mold?

So, as it has become the norm in my academic journey, I have more questions than answers:

- What telenovelas are offered to these Serbian TV stations? What are their prices? Is there a difference among the prices of Mexican, Colombian and Venezuelan telenovelas?

- What are the factors involved in the purchasing decision? Do these Serbian networks have reliable data about the telenovela reception and consumption patterns of the Serbian audiences?

- How do Serbians "read" and interpret telenovelas? What is their perception of Latin American women and men?

All interesting and important questions that I wish I can answer one day...Meanwhile I enjoy the great feeling of being in a place far from Latin America in which telenovela isn't a foreign word.

Esmeralda v. Por Estas Calles

Sometimes I feel that in Latin America we spend a lot of time arguing which is the best type of telenovela. The ones called "rosa" or those that in Venezuela we've decided to call "de ruptura", but that scholars define as "neobaroque" (Calabrese, 1997) and "stylistic postmodern" (Steimberg, 1997).


Taxonomies are never perfect. But, we can say that Esmeralda, written by Delia Fiallo, is the archetype of the telenovela rosa. It includes a traditional dramatic structure, a love story between two protagonists of different socioeconomic levels, a baby switch, a blind protagonist that recovers her sight before the end, manichean characters, a generic context, a scarcity of subplots, and the many twists and turns that have kept several generations glued to the TV watching its many versions and remakes.


Por Estas Calles, originally written by Ibsen Martínez (he didn't write it until the end), exemplifies the telenovela de ruptura. Por Estas Calles chronicled and editorialized the Venezuelan political situation while its main love story eventually disappeared.

In general, telenovelas are located in a continuum between these two extremes. Some are more rosa with their redundant and repeated plots and simplistic characters. Other telenovelas are more de ruptura as they include social conflicts and changes taken from reality, present complex characters that are both ambiguous and unpredictable, and tell stories that combine personal and social problems. Personally, I prefer the latter. I like telenovelas whose characters are so well constructed that their actions are coherent, while the telenovela doesn't lose any of its entertainment or emotional power. I like telenovelas in which identification occurs thanks to a process in which we recognize ourselves and those we know in the melodrama's characters and plots.

The argument Rosa vs. Ruptura has consumed network executive, writers, actors, entertainment reporters and the audience. Nevertheless, it's increasingly difficult to classify a telenovela using this taxonomy. And it's virtually impossible to predict a telenovela's success based on this tipology. The genre's history is populated with both telenovelas rosa and de ruptura which have been successes and failures. The truth is that we can spend our whole lives arguing this topic, but telenovelas can only be classified as GOOD or BAD ones.