"Sin Palabras"


When La Reina Del Sur was banned in Venezuela due to its “glamorization” of narco-trafficking, the backlash was massive, including comments from lead actress Kate del Castillo. She took to Instagram, posting a promotional picture from the telenovela and simply captioning “Sin Palabras” (without words), asking her audience their opinions on the sudden censorship. Some supported the ban, saying it promoted a criminal lifestyle much like Chavez campaigned, while others said it covered up real violence in Venezuela and that the ban was sexist. 


The Ley Resorte, or the Law of Social Responsibility for Radio and Television, was first implemented
in Venezuela in March of 2005. It ended up being a media-eating monster that consumed the telenovela and news networks whole by the early 2010s and still exists today. La Reina del Sur was only one of the many outsider telenovelas that were disallowed from being shown on the screen, but home-grown shows were hit even harder. By 2008, La Vida Entera and few other Venezuelan telenovelas were under such ridiculously high scrutiny that they had to make roundabout jokes in order to say anything negative about the country. One scene used France as an example: “An apartment with bars on its door and windows! Just like in France! Did you know that in Paris all apartments have to have bars because of crime? Horrific,” (Acosta-Alzuru Media Government)! Jokes like these definitely did not go over the audience’s heads; they understood the censorship plaguing the country and the lengths TV networks had to take to keep providing the entertainment. 

When shows like La Reina Del Sur get blocked from audiences completely, they have lasting effects. For a country like Venezuela with jaw-droppingly high standards for the females, having a mid-thirties powerful female leader is amazing; viewers can see themselves being independent like Teresa Mendoza, and they don’t have to shy away from the fact that female objectification is real when its shown so prevalently on the screen. La Reina Del Sur doesn’t shy away from another major problem in Venezuela: crime. One Instagram comment puts it best: “I am Venezuelan. The violence and delinquency is uncontrollable here… they [the government] should dedicate themselves to controlling the delinquents that murder people daily and leave the people with their freedom to enjoy themselves…” (Latin Post). When the government focuses so much on less than perfect themes in its media, it distracts itself and the people from what is really happening and closes the doorway to important conversations.

Sources:
https://www.latinpost.com/articles/93971/20151111/kate-del-castillo-reacts-to-la-reina-del-sur-ban-in-venezuela.htm
https://uga.view.usg.edu/d2l/le/content/1835461/viewContent/26652151/View


Comments

  1. Your exposure of the double standards present in dangerous countries was very relevant to telenovelas! The action packed plot of "La Reina del Sur" featuring Teresa Mendoza's interaction with the drug lords across Latin countries exemplifies the nature of the drug trade in these countries. By the government censoring out telenovelas and other media depicting this, they are not fixing the problem they are just tip toeing around the actual violence issues in these countries rather than actually addressing the problem itself. I think that the only way these countries will be able to gain control over these terrifying conditions are to continue to broadcast telenovelas and other media making the public more aware of the issue instead of pretending it doesn't happen. Additionally, I believe that shows like "La Reina del Sur" would have a great impact on viewers living in these harsh and dangerous situations because it would give them a strong and courageous icon to look to like Teresa Mendoza who is battling these dangerous drug lords head on. An empowering character like Teresa could be very motivational and beneficial for people living through these hard times.

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