ONLY "SEÑORAS" WATCH TELENOVELAS?

Recently, the interesting video blog of blogs Telúrica, "Tu blog en TV" published a reaction to my post TELEVISA V. YOUTUBE--WHO WINS? NOT THE AUDIENCE, OF COURSE

Telúrica's comments are always smart and loaded with a mix of humor and information. However, those contents are also a reflection of society and culture. As a scholar dedicated to the study of the links between media, culture and society, I can't avoid noticing the set of ideas that underpin Telúrica's reaction to my post about Televisa and Youtube, and the loss of telenovela material on Internet:


- Telenovelas are watched only by not-so-young women who have nothing important to do with their lives

Telúrica's narrator in melodramatic tone:
"Thanks to Youtube, many ladies can re-live the glories of Colorina, Rosa Salvaje or Cristal..."
"And to think that this is the only option left for these ladies (esas señoras)..."

The myth that telenovelas are only watched by women with nothing else to do, or by women from low socioeconomic levels is just that: a fallacy. When we analyze the ratings and shares of telenovelas in the countries that consume these shows, we find that telenovelas are watched by men and women of all ages--from childhood to the golden years. These men and women belong to all socioeconomic and educational levels.

Moreover, when we observe Internet bulletin boards, fora and chatrooms dedicated to telenovelas, we clearly see that they are dominated by teenage and young adult males. Partly, this is an extension of the demographic trends in Internet. But, this pattern is also a reflection of the demographics of current telenovela followers.

As media products, Telenovelas present us with a paradox. They are a highly successful media product (most watched TV genre in the world), and, at the same time, they are disdained and denied even by those who watch them loyally (and in secret). To be sure, the telenovela isn't the only media/cultural product falsely associated with female consumption, that is disdained by many.

In that sense, Telúrica's post is a reflection of society's disdain towards telenovelas, and general minimization of women's--"esas señoras"-- roles, tastes and media consumption.

TELEVISA V. YOUTUBE--WHO WINS? NOT THE AUDIENCE, OF COURSE

Due to Televisa's copyright lawsuit against Youtube, the latter has been marking as "video unavailable" an huge amount of telenovela material that was in Youtube thanks to the efforts of people around the world who invested their time uploading their personal collections of telenovela videos.

Following is a small sample of the many posts in blogs and bulletin boards complaining about this development (they're in Spanish):

alt1040
Foro Univision
pellejos p'al gato
skhamp
TVVI

In Youtube not only Mexican Televisa's telenovela videos are disappearing, but also many clips of telenovelas produced in other countries. Not to mention that Youtube is closing the personal accounts of anyone who has uploaded telenovela material.

This is sad. Youtube had become a true telenovela archive, a "must visit" place for telenovela lovers, and for scholars like me who have focused our research on this television genre. As far as I know, there isn't anywhere an archive that has samples of telenovelas from all producing countries. Telenovela videos are, like telenovela memories, scattered around the world in the homes of those audience members who were so enthralled by a particular show that they taped--some or all--the episodes of a particular telenovela. Thanks to their dedication, time and effort, telenovela videos were uploaded, despite the fact that most are in non-digital formats. Because of these people, Youtube became the greatest and most important telenovela archive in the planet.

Don't get me wrong. I know copyright laws. I also understand Televisa's right to keep selling their telenovelas, abridged and in DVD format. (I own a respectable collection of Televisa telenovelas in DVD that I've bought through the years). But, I don't believe the videos in Youtube diminished either the sales or interest in Televisa's telenovelas around the world. Au contraire, this material enticed audiences to watch and purchase Televisa's telenovelas.

The biggest loss, though, is of all the erased videos of telenovelas that weren't made by Televisa. In Youtube we could find impossible-to-find videos of Cristal, Yo soy Betty, la Fea (and its different local versions made in different countries), La Dueña, Las Amazonas, Ciudad Bendita, Kassandra, etc. None of these telenovelas are commercially sold. They are the sentimental property of the people who follow telenovelas around the world, and who now go back in time to when they only had access to the telenovelas broadcast in their own countries. This, obviously, strenghtens Televisa's dominance and hold on the global telenovela market. Those videos will be sorely missed by the telenovela Youtube audience.

They will be missed also in my classroom, where I won't be able to show anymore the variety of telenovela videos that allowed my students to understand the history and typology of telenovelas.

The absence of telenovela videos in Youtube will also increase the difficulty of studying this genre that is so popular, but also so mistreated...even by one of its most important producers.

October 12, 2007 Postscript: Two months after writing this post, a comment prompts me to look up in which court the lawsuit took place. I couldn't find it, which makes me think that the extensive deletion of telenovela material in Youtube was due to a warning from Televisa.