Building Romantic Tension
Since I am studying Kara Para Ask, I was very much interested in today’s discussion of the ways that they build the sexual/romantic tension in the telenovela. I would not have imagined them to be as effective as they are, but I’ve felt the tension firsthand watching the show! It’s funny, if I had known that there was so much censorship in Turkey, I probably would not have chosen a Turkish drama. I would have thought I’d be bored and that the love relationships would not be as compelling as in other shows that are less subject to censorship. However, this is clearly not the case, and the actors do an excellent job of putting the audience on the edge of its seat. A couple things that I’ve noticed in particular as far as romantic build up is that the music is always the same during the little romantic moments that they share, and that they maintain eye contact for at least ten seconds during most of those moments. In one episode, they also made a montage of moments that Elif and Ömer shared, set to music and cast in a sepia tone. Reminding the audience of all of those times at once seemed to be an excellent and heartwarming strategy for getting us even further hooked on “Elmer.”
Also, something I wondered in class was whether or not it was worth it for the production team of the show to get fined because they put the overly suggestive lip biting scene on television. How much would they have been fined? When they included the later scene that we watched, when Elif and Ömer made up and made love, were they concerned about getting fined again? Would the fines put a substantial dent in the profits of the show?
Also, something I wondered in class was whether or not it was worth it for the production team of the show to get fined because they put the overly suggestive lip biting scene on television. How much would they have been fined? When they included the later scene that we watched, when Elif and Ömer made up and made love, were they concerned about getting fined again? Would the fines put a substantial dent in the profits of the show?
I CANNOT EVEN BEGIN TO TELL YOU HOW INTO ELMER I AM. I love them and their actors so much- I think they do a phenomenal job telling a love story without showing much physical love. Since they are very limited in what they can show, the cute scenes of them play-fighting or doing things for each other are the main way they can show their growth in affection to the audience. I personally think that this is so much more effective than a lot of Latin American telenovelas, where the most common way they show their attraction for each other is through sex. Love is a lot more than just that, and we as an audience can (and, I think, would rather) relate to and wish we could experience these acts of love Elmer does for each other rather than just sex. I literally almost cried at one of the scenes Dr. A showed us in class today. Therefore, after I'm done with La Reina del Sur, catch me in my dorm binging Kara Para Ask.
ReplyDeleteAs for your points about the fines, I do wish we had asked about that in class! Those are some good points. Personally, I would assume that the fines were most likely worth it because the show is so successful it probably did have a lot of viewers and made a good profit, and sometimes you have to bite the bullet to give the audience what they want and sell part of the story. While the producers and actors probably could've skipped the "questionable" moments, I think they made the scenes all that more realistic and relatable, not to mention attention-grabbing.
After Dr. A showed us those scenes in class, I completely understand the fascination with "Elmer"! I agree that their ways of showing affection, though it's because of censorship, is more effective than the classic telenovela couple that just has sex all the time. In my telenovela, Tierra de Reyes, one of the couples (Samuel and Andrea) are more focused on the sexual buildup than the sex itself, and I love it! They aren't the main couple, but I find myself looking forward to the scenes that they share more so than anything else! They aren't even supposed to get together until late into the second half of the show! Most of their relationship and interactions consist of arguments. They're the couple that "hates" each other until they realize it was a method of covering up their feelings for one another. In every scene they have, the producers build the chemistry and sexual tension with the music as well as the eye contact and limited physical contact, and I find myself holding my breath waiting for something good to happen. I completely understand what you mean about the montages! My telenovela does that, too! Typically, they'll show a character sitting by themselves, and then the flashback of a particular moment with their significant other. Although I'm sure they include these scenes for the fans rather than the story, I think it's an interesting parallel to human nature. We like to relive the moments that make us feel something. You have some really good questions about the fines! I'd also be interested in knowing how much they paid for some of the more romantic scenes they included. How did the fines compare to their overall profit? Though, I agree with what Carolina said! The "questionable" moments made the scenes more realistic and relatable, and are slightly necessary. In real life with real couples, though they might not result to sex in every moment, build ups of sexual tension are likely to end with a kiss, which is unfortunate that your telenovela has to limit that. Do you think if they weren't limited by censorship, fans would love Elmer as much as they do? Would the inclusion of sex scenes take away from the realism of the couple, or would it just make fans obsession with them that much stronger?
ReplyDeleteYour last few rhetorical questions actually made me really wonder. I can't really answer them with much authority since I haven't watched the show yet, but now you have me thinking about those hypothetical possibilities. Most of me wants to say that it would actually be detrimental to the chemistry Elmer shares. I only say this because as much as I love my telenovela, La Reina del Sur, the constant sex scenes (and flashbacks of these moments) with Teresa Mendoza's different lovers does get a bit old. I find myself sometimes wishing that her "deep love" for her past "husbands" was shown more through emotionally romantic scenes instead of the physical ones. Maybe a few of these scenes would add to their overall relationship and satisfy the fans, but I honestly think that making this telenovela like many of the Latin American ones in the way the characters typically show their love for each other would ruin the magic they have and how fans imagine their love to be. With the exclusion of so many physical sex scenes, fans can mentally invent how special they are together instead of having to watch two actors fanatically making out with each other every episode. I also think that because of this censorship, Turkish telenovelas probably have a different dynamic in general when it comes to two characters and it seems almost a breath of fresh air for those used to such physicality as seen in many modern telenovelas.
DeleteSimilar to you, if I had known about all of the censorship they have in Turkey, I don’t think I would have chosen a Turkish drama either. The lack of intimate and romantic love scenes would have made me think that the telenovela would be more cheesy, innocent, and childish. However, after watching scenes from Kara Para Ask in class,I learned my initial mindset was completely wrong. I was extremely surprised that I was able to witness such great chemistry and passion between the two protagonists despite there not being much touching or sex. Part of the reason I was surprised is because the telenovela I am watching, La Reina del Sur, is completely the opposite. The producers in my telenovela love to incorporate sex scenes as well as a great amount of physical touching between Teresa and her love interests in order to show their affection and chemistry. As a result, I did not think that there could be a telenovela that displayed similar chemistry and passion without sex. Despite how our telenovelas display love differently, there are a few similarities between our telenovelas. For example, I also noticed that during the romantic scenes between Teresa and Santiago (her second love interest), the same song plays every time as well. On top of the physical touching, there is also plenty of deep, intense eye contact shared between the two characters during these romantic scenes. Lastly, just like in your telenovela, there are multiple times where either Teresa or Santiago flashback to their past romantic/intimate moments and a montage of these scenes begin to roll. It’s interesting to me that although my telenovela can include touching and sex, the producers still choose to include other methods that capture the love between the two characters. While these other methods are necessary in a telenovela that has censorship, such as Kara Para Ask, I would not think that it would be necessary in a regular telenovela such as La Reina Del Sur.
ReplyDeleteI wish I has chosen this telenovela. I feel like I'm hooked by the little snippets we watch in class. My heart literally stopped when I saw the dead character because I though that Elif had died. From the clips we see in class I don't understand how the writers and actors build so much sexual tension with all the extreme censorship. My show, Pasion de Gavilanes, is a Colombian telenovela and they are allowed to be a bit more graphic as I saw in the first episode between the two protagonists, who are now actually dead. Personally, I feel like the fine was totally worth it and I am actually going to start watching the show just for my own enjoyment.
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