Al Otro Lado del Muro: A Different Type of Telenovela

As someone who grew up watching telenovelas, I was fascinated by the class before I even set foot in the classroom. I have vivid memories of sitting down with my Abuela from noon until 9 o’clock watching any and all telenovelas on Univision. Rubi, Rebelde, Al Diablo Con Los Guapos, Peregrina and many other telenovelas are woven into the fabric of my childhood. Even in college, I turned to telenovelas when I needed a little piece of home (I watched all 440 episodes of Rebelde my freshman year when I was feeling homesick, and then quickly ran through Teresa and Rubi as well).

After 21 years of watching telenovelas, I thought I knew all about them – however, this class has introduced me to a whole new world in terms of the content that I thought I knew. The telenovelas of my Abuela’s time and my mom’s time are the classic telenovelas rosas – the Thalia of Marimar, Maria la del Barrio, and Maria Mercedes were basically the same character but with a different barrio and a slightly different storyline.

So when it came time to pick my own telenovela for the semester, I knew what I did not want. I did not want the typical telenovela rosa that I had watched with my grandmother for 18 years. Fortunately, I have learned about the drastic changes that have been happening to the telenovela genre that have revitalized an industry that could have been lost, had it not been for telenovelas like El Señor de los Cielos, La Reina del Sur, Avenida Brasil, and so many others that have replaced the typical telenovela protagonist with characters that are complicated, flawed, and yet still make us root for them even when we know we shouldn’t.

Telemundo has done a fantastic job of picking up on the fact that the audience for telenovelas has changed, especially here in the U.S. Young, first-generation Mexican-Americans like me are demanding stories that are different and bold and sexy and thrilling from start to finish – consumer demands like these have given rise to narconovelas and telenovelas de ruptura which more accurately reflect the lives of Latin Americans today.

For my telenovela, I have chosen Al Otro Lado del Muro which is the story of two very different women who both cross the border between the U.S. and Mexico under very different circumstances but are united in their desire to provide a better life for their families. I chose it because it is completely different from the telenovelas I watched as a kid. First, it’s not a typical love story since both protagonists are already in relationships. Both protagonists are also very accomplished women in their own way and are not a typical Cinderella. However, the most compelling factor of the story is the fact that it deals with the lives of immigrants in the U.S. and what they deal with in a country that is not their own. Although I am only a few episodes in, I have already found it to be refreshingly modern (it premiered just this year) and I am excited to see how Sofia and Eliza’s journeys shed light on the increasingly political existence that many immigrants face here in the U.S.