The Truth about Telenovelas

At the start of this class, I was set in my belief that soap operas and telenovelas were the same thing. On multiple occasions, I have stated that telenovelas are just Spanish soap operas. Truly learning about telenovelas has shown me how ignorant I was, because there is a difference and telenovelas are extremely complex. For starters, telenovelas actually have an ending and are very successful, unlike soap operas today. In my opinion, the simple fact that telenovelas air during Primetime is proof of their success. Primetime is meant for shows that many people want to invest time into watching. Additionally, telenovelas are more than just melodramatic love stories. There are numerous types of telenovelas from the traditional “rosa” telenovela to a more realist story. Lorena, in her article “Confessions of a Former-Telenovela Addict,” lists several categories of telenovelas which we also discussed in class. The list includes the classic Cinderella story, the costumbrista alternative story, period pieces, contemporary, gothic, narconovelas, and teenager and child telenovelas. This long list of categories shocked me. My eyes were only open to the traditional good versus bad guy love stories with a ton of drama. Prior to this article, if someone told me to list different types of telenovelas, I would have looked at them as if they were crazy and said, “there are no types of telenovelas.” This newfound information makes sense to me and it should have made sense sooner. I watch Korean dramas which tend to be judged the same way telenovelas are. People without insight state their misinformed opinions, but Korean dramas vary just as telenovelas do. I have watched dramas like Goblin and Dream Knight which include magic and fantasy, but there are also dramas with action, romance, and much more. My point is that, everything seems simple and is easily judged until you genuinely take the time to look into it and learn more about it. This class is exciting to me because so much culture and diversity is involved in telenovelas and I want to be exposed to all I can learn about it.

http://divinesecretsofthewritingsisterhood.blogspot.com/2011/06/confessions-of-former-telenovela-addict.html