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| Aurelio Casillas - El Señor de los Cielos |
As stated above, music, such as the main theme, can tell the viewer a lot before even watching the show. As for El Señor de los Cielos, the opening theme includes a narcocorrido, sung by a Mexican group called the Cardenales de Nuevo Leon. This is the case all the way through season six. Considering the plot of El Señor de los Cielos and the narcotrafficking themes, the opening music accurately depicts the plot of the story audibly and through its lyricism. As well as this telenovela, similar narconovelas, such as La Reina del Sur opens with a narcocorrido — accurately depicting the plot through its lyricism as well.
Aside from corridos, music and sound in an overall sense assists audiences in deciphering the seriousness or lightness of a situation within all telenovelas. Scenes, such as when someone enters a room and a dark and serious music starts playing, guides a viewer to feel the way the director intended them to feel. Though some do not notice, without the music, a simple entry, such as someone coming in the door, could seem ordinary when in fact the scene may be incredibly important.
But not only do these Telemundo Super Series incorporate this genre in their overarching themes, plenty of American series have utilized the music as well. One, for example, AMC's popular hit show Breaking Bad incorporated a narcocorrido into season two, episode seven. The episode was named "Negro y Azul."
Overall, the concept of production, specifically music, creates a pathway for the audience to feel a certain way and decipher the gravity of a scene that they are consuming. While narcocorridos have definitely made an impact in the telenovela world through narconovelas, the importance of music in general has become such an important element in the production of these shows.
How else do you all think music affects the audience of a telenovela?
Luis,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your take on how music affects the audience of a telenovela. I learned a lot from your writing about a corrido, a narcocorrido, and the ways that audio works to create an emotional bond between the viewer and the telenovela. My telenovela, La Reina del Sur, is also a narconovela, and I have begun to understand the ways that the introduction theme song prepares the viewer for what they are about to see.
The introduction for my telenovela is a fast-paced ballad that describes Teresa Mendoza's journey in her life. It is not an aggressive or angry song like I would have assumed for a narconovela, but more of a catchy tune that is extremely difficult to get out of one's head.
Aside from the introduction song, I have also noticed that music has an extreme affect through moments of sadness or romance. Every time that Teresa is feeling sad about her dead lover or her current state of affairs, sad violin plays in the background. This has the effect of moving the viewer towards her sadness, creating an emotional bond between the two. When Teresa begins to feel romantic emotions again, the music escalades and crashes, heightening intensity and causing the viewer to feel as if they are falling in love alongside her.
Luis,
ReplyDeleteRealmente disfruté este post y aprendí lo que es un narcocorrido. Cuanto más aprendo sobre los diferentes aspectos de las narcotelenovelas, más entiendo por qué son tan populares y adictivas entre muchas culturas y espectadores diferentes. También estoy de acuerdo en que la música nos puede decir mucho más que lo que debemos sentir y que realmente nos puede decir qué consumimos como espectadores. He notado esto dentro de mi propia telenovela y también me gusta leer que en telenovelas diferentes a las mías, la importancia general de la música es un tema constante. También estoy de acuerdo en que la música hace que algo tan simple como ingresar a una sala sea significativo. Sin música en estas escenas, el espectador puede perder totalmente algo significativo. Si bien la música varía de telenovela a telenovela, sin la música, las telenovelas no serían tan exitosas en general como lo son.