TELENOVELAS AND THE SPANISH LANGUAGE

In the recent 5th Congress of the Spanish Language, Jorge Ignacio Covarrubias, secretary of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language, presented a paper about telenovelas and the diffusion of the Spanish language. You can read here an article in Spanish about this. You can also read Mr. Covarrubias' presentation. For this research, Mr. Covarrubias interviewed telenovela writers, actors and producers. He also interviewed me and some of my students in my "Telenovelas, culture and society" class.

IN MY TELENOVELA CLASS: Conversations with Leonardo Padrón and Roque Valero

The last class of this semester, in which we lectured and discussed as many aspects of telenovelas as possible, finally arrived. Following the course's tradition, I taught the last class at my house with dinner and a Tres Leches for dessert:

That evening we had our two last "Telenovela Conversations" with writer Leonardo Padrón and actor/singer/musician Roque Valero. Both were generous as they shared with us their experiences in the world of telenovelas. My students learned a lot, enjoyed immensely the opportunity to talk to our guests, and were truly delighted when Roque sang for us a fragment of Las Lágrimas Aprenden a Reír.

Following are the two videos of the conversations, where you will find valuable angles and points of view regarding writing, acting and musical composition.





As I finish this semester of "Telenovelas, Culture and Society", I must thank everyone who has talked to me and allowed me to observe her/him as they write, perform, produce or consume telenovelas. Thanks to them, I continue on my research path about this television genre, whose apparent simplicity hides its fascinating complexity. I also thank my 24 students for everything they taught me and for their interesting reflections in our class blog. Finally, thanks to our guests who shared with us their knowledge and talent. They are the indispensable teachers for my class: Marisa Román, Ruxandra Ciobanu, Alberto Gómez, Leonardo Padrón and Roque Valero.

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.

IN MY TELENOVELA CLASS: A conversation with Ruxi

My telenovelas class would be incomplete without the opportunity to talk to people involved with the telenovela world. In previous semesters we have talked to: Leonardo Padrón, Marisa Román, Valentina Párraga, TVVI's moderator, Julie Restifo, and Daniela Bascopé.

These exchanges, via phone or video conference, are always enriching form my students, and I appreciate them very much.

This week, the last of this semester, we're focused on these "Telenovela conversations." Our first guest was Ruxandra Ciobanu, who lives in Bucharest, Romania. I met "Ruxi" through a telenovela message board a few years ago. I also had the privilege of having her as a participant in one of my case studies. I invited Ruxi to my class because I wanted my students to meet her and to learn about telenovela consumption through the eyes of someone who's not from Latin America.

We loved our conversation with Ruxi. She's knowledgeable and has a warm personality. For me, it was truly special to have her in my class.

Following is a video with some excerpts from our "Telenovela conversation" with Ruxi. We appreciate her sharing her time and knowledge with us.

IN MY TELENOVELA CLASS: My students present IV

Fourth installment of my students presentations regarding the consumption of specific telenovelas.

Presenter: Alicea Glover

Topic: The reception of Amigas y Rivales

Sources: Social media and webpages





Presenter: Ashley Rosado

Topic: The reception of Amarte es mi Pecado

Sources: Social media, message bards and webpages





Presenter: Beth Palevitz

Topic: The reception of Lola...érase una vez

Fuentes: Imdb, social media, message boards and webpages






Presenter: Bridget Goodman

Topic: The reception ofRubí

Sources: Imdb, social media, message boards and webpages

IN MY TELENOVELA CLASS: MARISA ROMAN VISITS US

Last Friday, my students were somewhat nervous while they were getting ready to have a videoconference with Venezuelan actor Marisa Román. They were concerned about their level of Spanish, and whether it would allow them to participate fully in the conversation. Meanwhile, in my office, Marisa Román waited for my signal to come to my classroom and surprise the students. And it happened. We managed to repeat the wonderful experience of two years ago, when Marisa also came to my class as a surprise.

The conversation was fluent and very honest. There were many lessons. Besides deepening their learning about telenovelas, my students were able to appreciate first hand how, beyond the glittering aspects of celebrity, actors are human beings whose craft is centered on feelings and emotions. In addition, my students, who are frequently inhibited from speaking Spanish because they haven't perfected it, watched how Marisa Román privileged her desire to communicate with them over her English level and had no qualms to correct her spoken English as she answered our questions. (You can read some my students' posts about this visit in the class blog: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9).

Here's a video of the visit. The quality is far from perfect, but the content is representative of what happened in our class during that hour. I hope you will enjoy it as much as we did.

IN MY TELENOVELA CLASS: CHOOSING A TELENOVELA TO ANALYZE

In my class "Telenovelas, Culture and Society," students analyze the representations and identities included in a telenovela of their choice. They also need to have access to this telenovela via TV, Internet, or because they purchased it on DVD. For this exercise, I don't mind if they analyze one of those abridged telenovelas they sell on DVD (6-20 hours long, instead of 120+). I explain to my students the pros and cons of studying a telenovela that has been edited to its minimal expression. My goal is that they practice the analytical tools I teach them in class.

The telenovelas chosen reflect the students' tastes and perceptions. (It's worth noting that most of them have never watched a telenovela before they take this class). But, their choices are also a reflection of what the telenovela market offers them here in the United States. Unfortunately, many telenovelas that are in YouTube are banned for Internet users in the U.S. As for telenovelas on DVD, Amazon and eBay are the places where one can find more variety and a decent selection of abridged telenovelas. And, even though each year I teach the class I notice that the offer has increased, it's also true that the number of producing countries and networks that market their telenovelas on DVD format doesn't increase nearly at the same pace. Therefore, it's notorious the absence of many producing countries, and of scores of telenovelas. So, this list does not mirror exactly the international market distribution of telenovelas, but it still resembles it (a majority of Mexican remakes).

Following is the complete list of telenovelas that will be analyzed in my class (the number inside the parentheses indicates when a telenovela has been chosen by more than one student):

• Rubí (2)
• Lola...erase una vez (2)
• Corazón salvaje (3)
• Verano de amor
• Destilando amor (2)
• Amores cruzados
• La Usurpadora (2)
• Sin senos no hay paraíso (2)
• Sin tetas no hay paraíso
• Amigas y rivales
• Mariana de la noche
• Heridas de amor
• Marimar
• Amarte es mi pecado
• La mentira
• Nada personal
• Dame chocolate

MY TELENOVELA CLASS THIS FALL

After an awesome summer teaching "International Mass Communication" in Oxford, I'm back at my university and routine. The Fall semester has already started and with it my class "Telenovelas, Culture and Society."

For professors, it's always a privilege and a pleasure to be able to teach a class focused on our research area. This is exactly the case for me and this class, which I especially enjoy because it allows me to share with the students what I've learned about telenovelas, and helps me deepen and reorient my research. This year I'm particularly happy because the class filled out pretty quickly and there's even a waiting list for it. I have 24 students who comply with the SPAN 2002 pre-requisite, and whose majors range from mass communication-related (advertising, public relations, journalism, broadcasting and telecommunication arts) to Latin American and Caribbean studies.

In the class, I use telenovelas in the same way I do in my research: as epicenters to study the links between media, culture and society. Therefore, this is the course's general description:

The course will examine Latin American telenovelas and their insertion in Latin America’s social formation. The connections between culture, media and society will be highlighted as we examine the historical roots of the genre, learn about its contexts of production, consumption and regulation, and analyze telenovelas as a public forum for the negotiation of social issues and meanings associated with Latin American reality. In addition, the course will underscore how telenovelas implicate and draw their audiences into the process of cultural production, as we look at how a mass-produced genre, conceived as for-profit entertainment, has tremendous significance in the everyday life of those who watch it.

The course's specific objectives are:

• To become familiar with communication concepts and tools that are used in critical and cultural approaches to mass media studies.
• To analyze the ideological, rhetorical and cultural underpinnings of telenovelas.
• To understand the commercial and aesthetics dimensions of telenovelas, and their social uses.
• To examine how processes of industrialization and globalization have made their mark on the telenovela genre.

Throughout the semester, I will use a mix of teaching methods and activities that will range from traditional lectures to video conferences with people involved in the telenovela world. I'll share some of it here in my blog.