Open Response #1

In one of our reading we had an article called “The Power of the Telenovela” on PBS and I noticed how in the first paragraph of the article it refers to telenovelas as “Latin American soap operas”. It was interesting because just before the reading we had a lecture and talked about how telenovelas are not soap operas and comparing the different between those two, which is a lot when we analyzed it. The telenovela that I decided to do for my report is on Netflix, cause I need subtitles, and is called “El Hotel de los Secretos”. After the first episode, the audience learns so much. Just looking at the quality of the video, the costumes, and the set shows that this telenovela has a high production value. This telenovela is about a poor guy is in search of his sister at her place of work in a hotel but when he is traveling there he meets a rich girl who he ends up falling in love with and whose parents owns the hotel that his sister worked in. And it is interesting because the audience learns all this in one episode. This story is similar to a Cinderella story like how traditional telenovelas are but just that the gender roles are reversed, making the “prince” of the story poor and the “poor girl” rich. The main female protagonist, Christina, has a jealous sister which follows the Cinderella story of having the evil step sisters. What is interesting is that the producers added a twist by having Christina and her family in a money issue making them desperate, resulting in her mother wanting to marry her off to a man that has money in order for the family to continue having ownership of the hotel. To me it is crazy how the producers are able to expand this general summary for eighty-plus episodes. And of course, the telenovela at the end of the episode leaves the audience on a cliff hanger, making them want watch what happens in the next episode. Overall, I feel like this telenovela I picked is going to be interesting to analyze and will be something I will enjoy watching.