Where is He?



            My choice of telenovela is Mexican production Soy tu Dueña. By the introduction credits of this novela, I am already clued into the central plot it will exhibit. This novela introduces the character of Valentina Villalba who is a successful business woman engaged to the man, who she thinks, is perfect. Immediately in the first episode, though her fiancé Alonso seems very much in love with her, he is hiding a huge secret. Alonso is having an affair with none other than Valentina's cousin, Ivanna, who lives with Valentina. Not only that, but Ivanna and Alonso reveal their plans to run away together after Alonso marries and divorces Valentina, so he gets part of her fortune that was left to her as a child when her parents died. So by the planteamiento (set-up) in the very first episode of this novela, it is made clear to me that this is not a typical Rosa story.

        There are details about the beginning episodes that help support the fact that this novela is not a Rosa story. The most evident is the fact that the male protagonist has not been introduced yet. In fact, he has not even been mentioned or linked to the plot in any way. The only evidence proving he is in the novela is in the introduction credits. This contrasts from the typical Rosa story which has the protagonists meet, and possibly even kiss, on the very first episode. This novela also does not fully follow the Cinderella theme, where the female protagonist is poor and naive. On the contrary, Valentina is very successful and wealthy. Perhaps the only naive thing about her is that she is blindly in love with Alonso and isn't aware of his infidelity.

The characteristics of this novela increase my curiosity as a viewer, because the story is building up piece by piece and will more than likely introduce the male protagonist in a pivotal part of the story. As a viewer, this novela structure is very intriguing and accomplishes the goal of hooking the viewer and making them want to continue watching. One can not help but to root that Valentina realizes her fiancé's infidelity with her cousin, and that the male protagonist is finally introduced and linked to the story.

Comments

  1. Katie MillerOctober 4, 2019 at 9:10 AM

    Soy tu Duena and my telenovela, La Reina del Sur, appear to have a lot of similarities! They're both more on the contemporary side, and somewhat like how your male protagonist has not yet been introduced, the male protagonist in my telenovela is killed off in the very first minute, with a second one being introduced much later! Teresa is also shown to be smart, although she does lack the street smarts of the drug trafficking world in the beginning and needs to be taught by her first love, Guero. She seems to have her telenovela Rosa moments before the story starts when she was with Guero before he died, as she was poor before they were married. I'm quite interested in Soy tu Duena and do wonder if the male protagonist will be as pivotal as the second one in La Reina del Sur proved to be!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chidinma OgbukaOctober 6, 2019 at 7:17 AM

    I have never even heard of this telenovela but your description of it being a non-traditional telenovela makes it nonetheless intriguing. It is a little odd that the male protagonist has not even appeared yet but maybe it is for intentional purposes that have something to do with the plot development. Hopefully this telenovela develops into a captivating story as it has the potential to do so based of your description.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Portrayals of Women in Telenovelas

Throughout the history of telenovelas, there have been various common themes that tend to carry throughout many hit telenovelas. One similar theme that I find interesting is the way women are portrayed. In many Cinderella modeled telenovelas, the women protagonists are portrayed as being pure and naive girls that go through a transformation after meeting their "prince". This type of Cinderella story unveils an array of stereotypes about not only women but men too. In many Cinderella telenovelas, the protagonist is a beautiful, blonde, innocent woman who finds a man who is above her in social status. This portrays women as being "damsels in distress" who need a man to pull them out of their current struggling lifestyle. Additionally this leads to men in these types of telenovelas as being very superficial and mainly being useful for their looks and their money. While these type of Cinderella love stories are very entertaining to watch, I feel that they poorly represe...
Read more

Musical Nuance in "La Esclava Blanca"

In the telenovela “La Esclava Blanca,” music plays an extremely large role in the portrayal of main themes and in the presentation of emotion. The telenovela theme, in which the main titles and actors are presented, tells the story of the protagonist, Victoria, in the style of an African working song; it is done this way as to show the meshing of the white Victoria with the black family who raises her. The theme also includes an intense section where drums and chanting can be heard, normally accompanied by important and powerful scenes from past episodes. This portion of the theme can also be heard in critical parts in the plot, such as when Milagros, Victoria’s sister, is searching for poison in the river. The majority of these pivotal scenes are associated with the slaves on the Eden plantation, as they make moves to overthrow their masters and to support the anti-slavery movement. This may be why the music contains such extreme drumming and chanting as the sound of d...
Read more

"La Reina del Sur" Across Borders

As I near the end of “La Reina del Sur” I have spent a lot of time reflecting on the impact that this telenovela has had on me and changed my perspective in many ways. I was never an avid viewer of telenovelas before I started watching “La Reina del Sur” because I was frustrated with the damsel in distress trope that seemed to be ingrained into every story created. Teresa has broken through that glass ceiling for me as her love stories become subplots to her rise to power as an independent woman. “La Reina del Sur” showed me that telenovelas can be more than entertainment and can be a means of empowering women across the globe with stories that show that women have the power to take control of and better their own lives. This realization made me more interested in the production of “La Reina del Sur,” which belongs to a unique group of telenovelas in that it is a U.S. production. This fact is not directly obvious simply by viewing the telenovela as the show is shot on location in ...
Read more