WATCHING "LA DUEÑA"-AGAIN

Every time I'm asked which is my favorite telenovela of all times, I answer La Dueña (Venezuela, 1984). This novela was written by José Ignacio Cabrujas and Julio César Mármol. The protagonists were Amanda Gutiérrez and Daniel Alvarado.

The telenovela is written as a homage to The Count of Montecristo by Alexandre Dumás. Moreover, La Dueña is The Count of Montecristo, but told in the Venezuela historical period known as gomecista and post-gomecista, and with a female protagonist, who's thrown into a horrid psychiatric ward. She escapes ten years later and deploys her vengeance.

Recently I watched La Dueña again. It was a fascinating exercise since in 1984 I had no plans to study a Ph.D. in mass communication, nor did I imagine that one day telenovelas would be my object of study.

Following my academic discipline, I started watching the telenovela with a series of questions in mind:

• After a decade studying telenovelas, would I like La Dueña as much as I did in 1984?
• What weaknesses and strengths would I notice in the telenovela?
• How different is La Dueña from today's telenovelas?

La Dueña hooked me again. And, in doing so, it reaffirmed what elements are present in the telenovelas I like:

• Careful character construction
• Intelligent dialogue
• Acting talent
• Coherence in the storyline

La Dueña is a telenovela with a high level of writing and low levels of production, even for 1984. There are very few exterior locations and a limited number of sets. The quality of the wardrobe is exceptional, though. It reflects the historical period depicted in the telenovela and effectively contributes to each character's individuality.

Even though drama is paramount in La Dueña, humor is present throughout in small doses that make the story lighter and easier to digest. Dialogue in La Dueña uses correctly the historical references of the time period. They are typical dialogue written by Cabrujas: rhythmic, poetic and profound. But, most of all, the words are coherent with the character that pronounces them. These dialogues are long and are set in long scenes; way too long if we compare them to current telenovela standards. When you watch La Dueña, you are at a different pace. Things are happening all the time, but the length of the scenes is double or triple the ones we watch today.

The cast of La Dueña merits special mention. It's quite a luxury to watch this cast. With one or two exceptions, everyone did an extraordinary job with their characters.

-Amanda Guiérrez is magnificent as she develops the double character of Adriana/Ximena, using two tones of voice, two gaits, two attitudes towards life. And, she adds to Ximena the detail of the useless hand, the only mark she has from her days in the horrible ward.

-Daniel Alvarado wasn't the typical telenovela protagonist, but that didn't matter at all. We detest his Mauricio Lofiego when he is arrogant and blindly machista. And we love him when we see him in love and humbled by his mistakes.

Here is episode 19. Go to 46:30 for a scene with the protagonists:

It would be too long to write about every actor in the cast. They are too many and too talented. (By the way, it's quite interesting to see how many characters and storylines La Dueña has, when there are those who currently criticize some Venezuelan telenovelas for having "too many characters" and simultaneously declare themselves admirers of Cabrujas and Mármol).

I will mention only four of those outstanding actors:

-María Cristina Lozada is Purificación Burgos, the great villain of the story. Purificación is a character with no fissures, in the acting or the script. Cabrujas and Mármol served her to María Cristina Lozada who made her grow in front of our eyes, until Purificación became unforgettable for Venezuelans. From an acting perspective, it was a detailed job.

Here is episode 45. Find minute 15 for a scene between Purificación Burgos and her second son, Abelardo:

-Eduardo Gadea Pérez is Manuel Antonio Lofiego. This character is a catalog of some of the most enchanting and troublesome characteristics of the average Venezuelan. Manuel Antonio is charismatic, verbose, a drinker and improvised. His scenes have the right amount of humor amidst the drama that is La Dueña.

Here is episode 78 with a pair of scenes of Manuel Antonio Lofiego. Go first to minute 17 and then to minute 31:

-Carlota Sosa is María Consuelo Tellez, a woman whose intelligence and personality don't fit well with the rigidness of the time period in which she lived. There is a lot of truth in Carlota Sosa's performance. Back in 1984, it was the first time I saw this talented actress on TV.

Here's again episode 78. Go to minute 8 for the final scene of María Consuelo and Adriana Then go to minute 32 for her final scene with Mauricio:

-Fina Rojas is Elvira, the woman who raised the protagonist, Adriana. Until I saw her in La Dueña, Fina Rojas was a comic actress who worked weekly in the humorous show Radio Rochela. Elvira is a character that is 100% drama, and Fina Rojas executed it brilliantly.

Here's again episode 45. Go to minute 36 for a long scence between Elvira and the male protagonist, Mauricio:

La Dueña is a great example that the key elements in a good telenovela are the writing and the acting. This telenovela is also a reminder that betrayal and vengeance are classic elements in these melodramas, and gives us clues as to why the principle of crime and punishment is one of the genre's most enduring codes.

MY FAVORITE TELENOVELA QUOTES

Through the years I've been studying telenovelas I've read my share of pages and authors about the topic. Here are my translations of some of my favorite quotes about this TV genre. These are my favorites because they illuminate with honesty and intelligence the intrinsic codes of the "show of sentiments" (Cabrujas):

Because it's so quotidian, because we watch it on television, we don't ask where does it come from, where is it grounded, what are its conceptualizations, what is there that is universal and human?
--Cabrujas, José Ignacio (2002). Y Latinoamérica inventó la telenovela. Caracas: Alfadil.

Telenovelas are part of Latin America's sentimental education.
--Gaitán, Fernando (2006). Interviewed in Los Imposibles: conversaciones al borde de un micrófono. Caracas: Aguilar.

The writers are the hidden protagonists of a telenovela, even though the majority of viewers don't know their faces or read about the decor of their homes in the entertainment magazines. It is the writer who defines the fate of the characters that gather multitudes in front of the TV screen on a daily basis.
--Alvarez, Valentina (2007). Lágrimas a pedido: así se escribe una telenovela. Caracas: Alfa.

It is true that a telenovela is a carrousel of melodramatic clichés. But it is also true that, as Umberto Eco would say, two clichés produce laughter, but 100 are moving.
--Vilches, Lorenzo (1997). La fuerza de los sentimientos. En E. Verón y L. Escudero Ch. (comps.) Telenovela: ficción popular y mutaciones culturales. Barcelona: Gedisa.

A telenovela is a "Great Love Story" administered in easy installments.
--Espada, Carolina (2004). La telenovela en Venezuela. Caracas: Fundación Bigott.

He or she who places words in the gut of a telenovela knows this very well: love without rating doesn't last.
--Barrera Tyszka, Alberto (2002). Desde las tripas de un culebrón. Revista Bigott.

This isn't a genre, like film, that goes from the heads of the writer and producer to the head of the spectator. Here, it goes from heart to heart, from gut to gut. And when the spectator's heart starts to get cold, it's time to twist the storyline.
--Gaitán, Fernando (2006). Interview in Los Imposibles: conversaciones al borde de un micrófono. Caracas: Aguilar.

The spectator know what's going to happen. But, I still have to surprise her or him when it finally happens.
--César Miguel Rondón in Lágrimas a Pedido de Valentina Alvarez. Caracas: Alfa.

This job, of course, is filled with failed attempts. There are many dignified intentions that never made it. But, there is only one possible commandment: to insist. This is why I don't accept the argument that says that telenovelas can't be improved, that they have a chemical formula that cannot be corrected, that it needs a high dose of stupidity. Every genre has a process and an evolution. It would be easier to resign ourselves to the headstrong ignorance and proverbial lack of risk of our television executives.
--Padrón, Leonardo (2002). La telenovela: ¿género literario del siglo XXI? Revista Bigott.

But, what kind of love are we talking about in a telenovela? We're talking about a love that isn't like ours, but still resembles it. Its apparent incoherence and unreal nature can also be its coherence and realism. The sense of truth and falseness in a telenovela is only given by its ability to move its audience. What is real is what is deeply unreal, what is felt.
--Barrera Tyszka, Alberto (2007). Una intimidad. Prologue to Lágrimas a Pedido de Valentina Alvarez. Caracas: Alfa.

Venezuelan television can now change, redoing what already exists. The important thing is that its roots dip into the humus of popular culture as it is, with its preferences and trends, that it feels passionate about its past, and that it doesn't avoid its creative spontaneity. Only in this way will we be able to have the lyricism of the intimate, the daring of liberty and the value of truth.
--Rondón, Alí E. (2006). Medio siglo de besos y querellas. Caracas: Alfa.

But whatever is the path for telenovelas, they have the ability to reveal the cartography of both feelings and social tensions, cultural imagination, and the secret and explicit aspirations of those who follow them with fervor.
--Martín-Barbero, Jesús y Rey, Germán (1999). Los ejercicios del ver: hegemonía audiovisual y ficción televisiva. Barcelona: Gedisa.

What would Jose Ignacio say?

"This country deserves a television that is different, contemporary, maffia-free, novel and willing to be adventurous."

"I never saw an executive that was certain, only a moment that was certain because of those who do, not those who decide."

"The nine million tv spectators are still worthy. They are waiting for something sensible, varied, new and able to confront them."

--My translation. Cabrujas, J.I. (1995). El Nacional.

This week José Ignacio Cabrujas would have celebrated his 70th birthday.

His contribution to telenovelas is immense. He broke the paradigm that telenovelas could only tell the same basic story with redundant language. In a genre populated by cinderellas, Cabrujas gave us heroines with agency over their destiny and characters that escaped the traditional telenovela rosa manicheism. He taught us that the story's context also matters, be it contemporary or historic.

Today, twelve years after a heart attack prematurely took him away, his impact on the telenovela landscape is still evident. In Venezuela, César Miguel Rondón, Leonardo Padrón and Mónica Montañés are some of the authors that display more clearly his influence. But it's also obvious in the most successful telenovela author of the last decade, Colombian Fernando Gaitán (Café con Aroma de Mujer, Yo soy Betty, la Fea, Hasta que la plata nos separe):

"I had a marvelous encounter with José Ignacio Cabrujas that marked me for the rest of my life and was determinant in my appreciation and knowledge of television. [...] Colombian television was very closed, until the telenovela Café con Aroma de Mujer. I say it with modesty, but this telenovela opened the door for Colombia. In my country we didn't know the television world. It was maestro Cabrujas who probably was the first person that showed us this enormous universe and how he had studied it in Venezuela.".

--My translation, Fernando Gaitán, interviewed by Leonardo Padrón in radio show Los Imposibles, 2005.

In this era of globalization in which the remake seemingly reigns, we witness how Yo soy Betty, la fea transforms into Ugly Betty, and read definitions of the telenovela as a mere variant of the soap opera, it's necessary to remember Cabrujas's words when he affirmed that "Latin America invented the telenovela".




We shouldn't forget either that studying telenovelas in-depth can provide clues to understanding our culture(s) and society(ies):

"Because it is so quotidian, because we watch it on television, we don’t ask ourselves where does it come from, what supports it, what kinds of concepts does it deal with, what is in it that is universal and human"

--My translation. Cabrujas, José Ignacio (2002), Y Latinoamérica inventó la telenovela, Caracas: Alfadil, pp. 21-22.

Cabrujas was a visionary that understood Venezuela with enviable and necessary clarity. Two weeks ago I had the immense pleasure of attending in Caracas the latest staging of his amazing play "El día que me quieras". I felt as if Cabrujas had written it the night before, not almost 20 years ago. That is how actual this magic text is, how assertive Cabrujas was...and how permanent Venezuela's problems seem to be.

Throughout the many years I have been researching telenovelas, there have been many actors who have said to me "¿What would José Ignacio say today about Venezuela, television and telenovelas?"

Personally, I think we know what he would say...

"the message that Cabrujas left us is that every day that we are inside television, making television, has to be like signing a declaration of independence. In synthesis, it must be an act in which there are capital letters and risk. [...] I believe that his message is that the trench is still there. That we still have to fight stupidity, even if stupidity is who pays our monthly check."

--My translation. Padrón, Leonardo (2002). A propósito de Cabrujas.