Details & The Portrayal of Women In Telenovelas
After finishing the entire telenovela series of “El Hotel de los Secretos”, I noticed small details that made a big difference in my experience as I am watching. I am lucky enough that I was able to watch a telenovela that was in very high definition, indicating that they most likely used a powerful camera or video camera. There was an instance where the antagonist of the telenovela took money out of a what appears to be an old box and the people in the set made sure that it had an old appearance. And by the team even adding dust, really does make it seem more believable. Another instance was when the female protagonist found her dead father's secret room the people who are in charge of the set really made sure that this secret room looked old, untouched, and dirty. Just seeing the background shows that the people who are in charge of the set and props payed very close attention to every small detail and could tell that a lot of time and effort was put in the set and props. Even fake blood and injuries that happened to many characters looked very real. It made me realize that because of the simple stuff like the dust, set, and makeup makes it seem more real to the audience making them more consumed into the telenovela. I did end up becoming consumed into the telenovela that I picked because of the intense drama and how the script writers and directors cause the audience to be in this emotional roller coaster. Having so many mysteries, murders, and the constant cliff hangers leaving the audience to wonder who is the killer behind all these murders and answers to all the secrets. Another thing that I noticed was that the script (sequence) messed up a bit in one of the transition from the very end of the episode to the very beginning of the next episode. And I am surprised that I caught it because if I had not been paying close attention I would not have noticed it at all. The thing that caught my attention was the female protagonist’s mother was talking to her and the mother said “porque” in such a strong angry tone but in the next episode when they repeated it the mother’s “porque” was a lot less strong, indicating that the specific scene was taken multiple times. The issue that upset me about the telenovela is that the women in the telenovela is always seemed to be portrayed of lesser value when they are with the bad mens in the telenovela. It irritates me because these women are being constantly portrayed as being useless and abused and how they are unable to get help from anyone. Showing the miserable life of the prostitutes in the telenovela and abusive husband beating their wives and getting away with it. Throughout the telenovela the audience can tell that the men are the dominating force and the women are seen as useless and there to please and satisfy the man, which is so sad, aggravating, and disappointing.
I really like how you noticed the portrayal of the females in your telenovela. Similarly, in my telenovela I have similar portrayals of females. The protagonist "Analia" is a stripper and is having an affair with a mafia/drug dealer guy. Her sister also goes into the stripper business to get more entail about Analia's whereabouts. Basically, what I find absurd about that portrayal is that females are always seen as being strippers or being involved with a bad guy. There isn't much out there that portrays females being in charge or defying the stereotypes that these telenovelas exhibit. Essentially, that's what telenovelas are truly doing; they are illustrating these stereotypes to audiences that will more than likely associate women with them. It's sad because stereotypes lead no where.
ReplyDeleteIn the telenovela "Sin Senos No hay paraiso", females are also stereotyped so bad. Colombians have such bad rep when it comes to their females because they're either prostitutes, with a drug dealer, or smuggling drugs. In the telenovela, they portray the females as prostitutes and drug smugglers. As a result of this, it continues being an outlet to this negative portrayal on Colombian women. When I watched that telenovela, I felt so disturbed that that's how Colombian women are seen. As a Colombian myself, I don't want people to view as such, but sadly due to all the media influence on audiences, these stereotypes of females stick.
I agree that telenovelas often portrayed a male dominating society. However I do think it’s getting better as time goes on. Like when telenovelas first started they all had the same stereotypical cinderella-type storyline. But then they started branching out from that such as making the guy the poor character and the girl someone who lives an extravagant life. And Today I think you also see a lot of feminist roles such Teresa from La Reina del Sur which starts off with her drug dealer boyfriend getting killed and all of his enemies are trying to kill her. This forces her to develop a new found strength and independence, that you don't see a lot with female characters in telenovelas.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why it uploaded the way it did but here is a better way to see it:
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing the entire telenovela series of “El Hotel de los Secretos”, I noticed small details that made a big difference in my experience as I am watching. I am lucky enough that I was able to watch a telenovela that was in very high definition, indicating that they most likely used a powerful camera or video camera. There was an instance where the antagonist of the telenovela took money out of a what appears to be an old box and the people in the set made sure that it had an old appearance. And by the team even adding dust, really does make it seem more believable. Another instance was when the female protagonist found her dead father's secret room the people who are in charge of the set really made sure that this secret room looked old, untouched, and dirty. Just seeing the background shows that the people who are in charge of the set and props payed very close attention to every small detail and could tell that a lot of time and effort was put in the set and props. Even fake blood and injuries that happened to many characters looked very real. It made me realize that because of the simple stuff like the dust, set, and makeup makes it seem more real to the audience making them more consumed into the telenovela. I did end up becoming consumed into the telenovela that I picked because of the intense drama and how the script writers and directors cause the audience to be in this emotional roller coaster. Having so many mysteries, murders, and the constant cliff hangers leaving the audience to wonder who is the killer behind all these murders and answers to all the secrets. Another thing that I noticed was that the script (sequence) messed up a bit in one of the transition from the very end of the episode to the very beginning of the next episode. And I am surprised that I caught it because if I had not been paying close attention I would not have noticed it at all. The thing that caught my attention was the female protagonist’s mother was talking to her and the mother said “porque” in such a strong angry tone but in the next episode when they repeated it the mother’s “porque” was a lot less strong, indicating that the specific scene was taken multiple times. The issue that upset me about the telenovela is that the women in the telenovela is always seemed to be portrayed of lesser value when they are with the bad mens in the telenovela. It irritates me because these women are being constantly portrayed as being useless and abused and how they are unable to get help from anyone. Showing the miserable life of the prostitutes in the telenovela and abusive husband beating their wives and getting away with it. Throughout the telenovela the audience can tell that the men are the dominating force and the women are seen as useless and there to please and satisfy the man, which is so sad, aggravating, and disappointing.