Telenovelas-FYOS Fall 2019

     A new sub-plot has developed in La Reina del Sur and this time it has nothing to do with the main characters of Theresa or Santiago but everything to do with fun-loving Fatima. Fatima was Theresa's first friend when she came to Spain and has proven to Theresa, along with the audience, to be a great friend and right-hand woman. Moreover, she also happens to be the "ray of sunshine" that brings a happier element to the story when things are not going too well. Despite her seemingly happy surface, us as an audience are exposed to Fatima's dark reality in which we learn of her life beyond the club. Theresa is an illegal Moroccan immigrant who came to Spain in search of a life filled with  more freedom outside of the restrictions Morocco has on women. In doing so, she left behind her young son with an aunt of hers. Due to a sad change of events, Fatima's aunt's death, leaving her son alone in Morocco with neighbors who Fatima has never met. A devastated Fatima...

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...

Stephanie Cozine  FYOS Fall 2019  Dr. Costa Acosta - Alzuru  Blog Post 2  Perhaps one of the most dramatic and masterful elements of La Reina Del Sur is Teresa Mendoza’s epic love stories. I can only imagine how much fans devour the love stories within the series. Perhaps the most abundant and obvious love story is between Teresa Mendoza and El Guero. Although we never actually see El Guero in present-time, their love story abides in every episode and has completely overtaken Teresa. Their love entails a subtle version of a Cinderella Story in which a rich drug lord falls in love with a humble, beautiful, and poor woman; however, it is not the “Cinderella” aspect that makes it an epic love story - it is a hybrid of the physicality of their love along with the emotional and inexplicable chemistry. For example, one of the most dominant aspects of an “epic love story” is the physical appearance. Teresa Mendoza along with El Guero and even her new ...

As the story of Valentina Villalba continues in Soy la Dueña, one can't help but feel tremendous sympathy for her character. She was left at the altar by her fiancé, who has now fled the country alone running away from loan sharks he owes a vast amount of money to. Valentina is given a simple note at the church that is supposedly from Alonso, and is left humiliated at the altar with no explanation as to why he left. The aftermath of her heartbreak is tremendous. In the following episodes, Valentina has become completely bitter and closed off to everyone around her. The betrayal and heartbreak she feels leads her to make a life-changing decision. She decides to leave her city life behind and go live at her hacienda and swears to never fall in love again. Once she arrives to her hacienda, she is a completely different person than she was in the beginning of the telenovela. Valentina is no longer caring and completely in love; she is now cold-hearted and spiteful. At Valentina...

https://www.tripsavvy.com/is-prostitution-legal-in-spain-1644174   Following Teresa Mendoza through La Reina del Sur has already been so difficult to keep up with. She has been through so much so quickly - from losing a loved one, to running from drug cartel violence, to fleeing to Spain and working in a bar for hookers. Teresa is a classic beauty in my opinion, but her character is resistant to selling herself as a prostitute. The men in the bar she works at prefer Teresa over the hired women, and that has led Teresa into some trouble with her coworkers. Prostitution is legal in Spain, but not as blantantly as shown in the film. Even though Teresa wants nothing to do with selling her body, especially after being raped in an earlier episode, she still gets tangled in a terrible mess. What’s even worse than women making money for sex is women being forced into sex as a form of blackmail. La Reina del Sur has done a good job of displaying both sides to prostitution in Spain so...

La Piloto: The power of Love and Independence Episode 8 Scene As La Piloto starts to intensify we see a much more prevalent and intense storyline begins to take form. In each new episode there are multiple twists and turns that leave viewers wanting more. Our protagonist, Yolanda, is becoming increasingly more involved in the Lucio Brothers’ narcos business as she begins to handle more serious deals for John Lucio. We also see a growing number of obstacles beginning to form in her path of achieving her dream of becoming a pilot. The first being that her Godfather, Ernesto, has hunted her down and stole all her savings and does not plan on leaving without causing her more harm. This begins to make Yolanda feel unsafe everywhere she goes. While dealing with her own troubles she also has John Lucio attempting to court her constantly, Zulima plotting against her at every turn, and a budding relationship with Alberto who is secretly working for the DEA. While the storyline in this t...

In Paula Andalo’s article on the relevance of subliminal messages in the presentation of telenovelas, she speaks on the power telenovelas have on the behavior of their viewers. After reading this article, one might think that since “La Esclava Blanca” is set in the 1850s, that its messages have no real relevance to today’s society, however, the show actually sheds much light on the systematic oppression of racial groups and the arbitrary segregation of race, even if it is translated over centuries. “La Esclava Blanca” gives us a white protagonist raised by African-American parents in a Palenque far from other white people, and therefore, the influence of racism. The protagonist, Victoria’s, upbringing is meant to convey the learned racism that society instills in us, and how a classed society encourages the reinforcement of that prejudice. Since Victoria is raised by black people she sees them as the humans they are, not as property as she would if she were raised by her bio...

It is no doubt that Teresa Mendoza and Santiago Fisterra have an epic love, but there is something about their love that knows how to really capture the heart of the audience. Even people who may not know much about the show at all, they can watch how they interact with one another and see the unmatched amount of love that they share. Together, Teresa and Santiago, make sure that every element of an epic love story is present.   Undeniably, the protagonists of “La Reina del Sur” definitely check the “physical appearance” box. Kate del Castillo, who plays Teresa, and Iván Sánchez, who plays Santiago Fisterra, are both very attractive people. They exude that natural confidence in themselves, and that only makes them look even better. Iván certainly has that smile that can make any girl swoon, and Kate has surly mastered “the beautiful cry.” I don’t think that I have ever seen either of them and thought that they didn’t look absolutely stunning. Their physical ap...

El Cartel distinguishes itself from other telenovelas by not only focusing on the portrayal of a romantic relationship, but conveying the significance of the Colombian drug trade in the 70s and 80s. Although there were many underground drug trades, El Cartel depicts the tactics of the Medellin Cartel which was run by drug lord Pablo Escabar. The Medellin Cartel originated in Medellin, Colombia and held power in countries such as Bolivia, Panama, Central America, Peru, and the United States, as well as in Canada and Europe. Pablo Escabar began his reign in 1975 and it continued until his death in 1993. It’s calculated that Escobar’s net worth was 35 billion at the peak of the drug trade era in Columbia The complexity of the drug trade network becomes crucial to the plot of El cartel when the main character, Martin, gets involved in this drug trade in an attempt to increase his income quickly with minimal effort. Not only does that put him at risk, but it complicates the relationsh...

When La Reina Del Sur began to go into production, it was no lie to say that the Telemundo company was taking a big risk. While contemporary feminist themes displayed in the show were already beginning to prove their popularity, the action-based plot and numerous locations demanded of the story made it an enormous investment. Over 300 locations for shooting outside of the studio would create major costs with variants for weather, travel, crowd control, and many more factors. For example, the director of the show wanted to take Teresa to the Kremlin and the Red Square in Russia and ended up having to completely rebuild a fake version of a section of the Red Square in Romania and use computer-generated imaging to superimpose the rest. Over 187 actors had to be negotiated with over their salaries and presence on screen. Scenes such as Teresa’s daring escape from the airport as two narcotraficante thugs chase her could have taken up to several weeks from coordinating stunts to finding a...

Typically in telenovelas the protagonists are made to be the most physically attractive ones as well as other factors in order to have the perfect love story.  Belky is a character that I find to actually be pretty and has the key of keeping that beauty when she's sad/ crying which is needed due to the fact that she is upset a lot.   The male protagonist usually has the perfect smile that melt the hearts of all the viewers; however, in  La Niña I find Manuel to have a face and smile that reminds me of the rat from Flushed Away. The actor that plays Manuel isn't ugly, but I  wouldn't categorize him under the typical heart throb role that the male protagonist tend to be. It's not his looks that make the viewer fall in love with him, rather it's all the little things he says and does for Belky. The way he treats, cares, loves, and understands her is what makes Manuel be the man that everyone wishes was in their life. He is truly able to make her feel...

“La Reina del Sur”sets itself apart from traditional telenovelas as it is a story built across different countries like Mexico, Morocco, and Spain. This variety is setting, language, and culture demonstrates the influence of globalization on the genre of telenovelas. Universally appealing storylines of a reversal of fate targeted at a female audience are what keep telenovelas like “La Reina del Sur” competitive.  While most telenovelas are filmed in one country and generally have actors of the same nationality throughout the storyline, “La Reina del Sur,” produced by Telemundo (an American television network), has a very diverse cast. For example, Kate del Castillo, who plays Teresa, is from Mexico, while Ivan Sanchez, who plays Santiago Fistera, Teresa’s new love, is Spanish. The languages used in the telenovela also add to its international feel. While the majority of the characters speak Spanish, there are still noticeable differences in the word choice of each character. T...

From a behind the scenes standpoint, telenovelas are much more complex in filming than viewers would think. There are numerous teams that work tirelessly to complete seamless episodes of these dramatized shows. A surprising component of filming that is goes unrecognized to viewers is the sequence in which scenes are shot. While it is common for many to believe that films and television series are shot chronologically, there is a production role that specializes in doing just the opposite. In filming telenovelas, scripts work tirelessly along side producers and directors to devise ideal schedules for the order in which scenes are shot. Additionally, steamier scenes that are very common in telenovela episodes are often shot time after time for directors and producers to get the scene the perfect way for television. This is extremely significant because it adds an element of complexity that many would not expect in these traditional drama television shows. This repetitive shooting of very...

Within such a telenovela that highlights various social problems that greatly exist in Columbia in the life of a contracted killer in Medellin, we are able to immerse ourselves into a world of narco-trafficking, murder, and rape. Concerning the time that the production is placed and filmed, the plot is intentionally laid out to be formatted through elements of flashback in order to tell the entire story. As I had begun the Telenovela, I was able to meet the characters in their future lives – though set in much tension and confusion as Rosario is shown being immediately taken to the hospital by Antonio as she has been mysteriously and critically shot in the stomach. With this glimpse into where we know the story will eventually turn to in the end, the telenovela is brought backwards 6 years prior (out of chronological order) in order to explain how Antonio first met Rosario, the love of his life, up until his untimely death. While a traditional narrator is absent, we are able to watch ...