Telenovela Parallels

La Piloto is a telenovela based upon a young and poor Mexican girl who all her life dreamt of being a pilot. The main character, Yolanda, is so committed on becoming a pilot she almost prostitutes herself for money to get her through aviation school. Already within the first couple of episodes we see that this show follows the classic telenovela storyline. After a couple of years Yolanda finds her way into the aviation business as a flight attendant with the help of one of her friends. Within the first day of her working there we can see a love interest spark between Yolanda and another flight attendant. This is yet another way how this show follows the classic telenovela storyline. Although there is no immediate conversation between the two we can see their body language and facial language may blossom into more. However, there is a twist to this inevitable love. The male flight attendant, John, is an undercover DEA agent. Usually this would not be a problem with any two employed people but Yolanda seems to accidentally wrap herself  up into some problems. Her friend, Zulima, who got her the flight attendant has her take drug money to a drug lord without her knowing it. Yolanda gets questioned by airport security but does not get caught but ends up losing the drug money. This is where we see the classic young naive girl in the telenovela. Yolanda ends up going to the drug lord just to say she doesn't have the money and gets wrapped up in some trouble there. Already in the first couple of episodes we see that there are lots of problems coming up for Yolanda. John ends up saving Yolanda like the hero's we know and love in telenovelas. After saving Yolanda John gets a tad peculiar of what she was involved in with the drug lords but overlooks it for now. He knows that Yolanda was put up to a task by Zulima, plus he is interested in her.

    Throughout the show we see that La Piloto follows the telenovela scene in many aspects. There is a ton of a mix of emotions in this melodrama within the first couple of episodes. Between the first looks of love, the drug drama, and rough friendships we see that the plot is on the uphill to the climax. We also see that the series takes place in a variety of different locations in contrast to what a normal soap drama is. We see the characters pass through places like an office, an airport, on the plane, and drug lord’s houses. This is also in contrast to what a soap would be where one would most likely placed in one central layout. Overall within the first couple episodes La Piloto has proven to be a real telenovela. Although it is not the classic “Rosa” story we see very many parallels. We see that a young poor girl is struggling to get to her dream and that she will do just about anything to get there. We see her start to fall for a coworker who will inevitably put a twist on the story with his DEA entitlements. I am excited to keep watching and to find other parallels with this story and what we talk about in class.