Caray, Caray!

I said it in the comments a couple of weeks ago, but I think Mi Corazon es Tuyo sent the wrong message to young girls when Fannie slept with Leon. She only knew him for a couple weeks and gave up her virginity to him. The next day they have her talk about how wonderful it was. Yes, people have sex, but perhaps they could show girls that their bodies are worth more than that. The only thing I like about that situation is that Leon is married. That is a great P.S.A. lesson that shows that you shouldn't just jump into bed with people just because it feels right. Leon forgot to mention that he had a wife and kid while he was taking off his pants and declaring his love for her.
 

Novelas are teaching me what mainline tv and movies are teaching me: an original idea is hard to find in this day and age.

Jarifa
 

I second Cynderella's comments.

I was very surprised when Fannie decided to sleep with Leon. Fannie was not able to "read" Leon. Even though he was doing and saying all the "right" things, Viewerville had the luxury of seeing that something was "not quite right".

Well, that "something" has just reappeared on his doorstep. It will affect Fannie's life now and possibly quite some time into the future. I don't think it was necessary for her to sleep with Leon as part of the plot line.

I've been surfing in and out of "La Gata". I think I have made my final surf out. Somehow, I am not in the mood for a show that is really, really big on the class divide. When the father was telling Daniel Arenas' character that "their kind of people" don't care about "those kinds of people", I knew that was the last episode I was going to watch. That, plus the pervy side story of trying to sell Gata to that horrible Italian dude, is not a story line that interest me. Why do the writers need to perpetuate this insulting class divide? Those comments last night were some of the more blatant ones I have heard in the TN I have seen. I don't need to hear it.

I am also sick and tired of hearing Isabella with her never ending use of the word "naca". Ana is not a naca. It is such a demeaning word. Isabella has to look no farther than her mother and herself if she wants to see nacas.

I think when ideas like this are perpetuated, even in jest, they become part of the norm.

To summarize:
--The writers are perpetuating the idea of a class divide which they seem to think is a good idea

--The writers seem fearful of writing a female lead or supporting lead as strong, independent women.

--Persistent use of demeaning words sends the message that it is just fine to continue using these words.

I'm no Puritan, but I think the writers could do much better in the messages they are trying to send.

Fatima
 

That Los Mejia are the worst novela producers ever. Not an original idea between them. Just keep passing the same tired cliches between them, yawn, zzzzzzz
 

I'm conflicted because while I'm enjoying la malquerida immensely it is an icky story.

idk if its just me but I watch novelas for purely entertainment value while also looking for the freshest story possible.

people with real problems and well defined characters and something not normally seen in telenovelas.

I don't enjoy novelqs like la gata because its so cliche on a basic story level and so far removed from reality that its too much suspension of disbelief.

I don't watch MCET but I've seen Silvia navarros look and that is not naca.

despite la malqueridas faults, its a story closer to home especially the sex slave trade...its ripped from the headlines.

 

La Malquerida is teaching us to not trust even those who are closest to us. The daughter and the hubby getting it on is a terrible situation yet, unfortunately, all too real. It is teaching us that people who supposedly love us will betray us in the most vile way possible. I haven't even given La Gata or Mi Coarazon a chance and will not do it. Not my cup of tea.
Romy
 

One of the things i've always hated about novelas is the racism which isn't subtle. Mexico has a huge population of mixed blood ethnic looking people but if you look at novelas it is all a white bread European society with ethnic characters usually appearing only as servants or criminals. Surely there must a few more ethnic looking actors who could be cast in major parts.

When we lived in Mexico we would go down to the Indian Market and here were all these people watching novelas full of people who looked nothing like them. Bugged me then too.

I also think that TN's often give s pass to violence against women. I've often been shocked by men slapping women around with little or no consequences. They've gotten a little better but not enough for my taste.
 

What I've learned from watching TNs:

You always faint when you're pregnant.
Bad people listen at the door and always hear just what they need to in order to continue doing bad things.
Good people are gullible and always believe bad people.
If you pray you get what you want.
Poor people will never take money from good rich people who want to help them. They only take money from bad people who want to take advantage of them.
If you are a female virgin and you have sex out of wedlock, you will get pregnant. (yes I know there are a few exceptions to this rule, but it's mostly true.)
Men can have all the sex they want and not be looked upon in a negative light.
 

I think the European-looking actors are all about being able to sell these programs outside the country.

The sexism and the violence against women also bothers me. Mucho.

However, at least they don't shrink from the subject of toxic parents.
 

The last interesting novela for me was La que no podia amar. It realy made me think a lot about millions of things. I never thought, that I would be so interested in the story about the man in a wheelchair. And Ana Paula is far away from my favourite heroins, but this character also made me ask a lot of questions to myself. This novela was hard to watch, but I will never regret that I did it.
And the worst thing I saw in novela was the Octavio's behaviour in CI. It's a shame that they shown, that father could easily kidnap his child and no one could do anything. And even Maricruz forgave him. So what was the message?
Alegria
 

I've learned that the villain and villainess (there are usually one of each sex, sometimes more) will win and win and win, and chortle over winning until the last week.
 

I agree so much with all the previous comments. I'm only watching MCET at the moment on TV (and trying so hard to get past the first dozen or so episodes of Reina del Sur on YouTube). I think the messages that are being broadcast via MCET are terrible and not family friendly. There are too many to mention and some have been discussed above and on the blog.

Nando was very passive during the whole bullying thing, and the writers missed a great opportunity to send a positive learning message.

Fer gets his office subordinate pregnant with a one time, poorly conceived act that held no affectation wheresoever, just a mintue's worth of self gratification.

Fanny losing her virginity after knowing (or not knowing as it turns out) a guy for only several weeks.

The whole gory Johmy/Doro storyline.
(Are those cockroaches real or robots?)

I could go on and on. While enjoying my first novela comedy, I feel the writers are passing up a great chance to tell the viewers some terrific PSA.

 

***whatsoever.
 

I've learned that not a single telenovela writer actually knows what the word "galan" means. And that disgustingly obnoxious bodily function sound effects are considered real comedy. And that you don't have to be able to act at all, but you do have to be able to cry (female leads), look good with your shirt off (male leads) or ugly cry (both)!
 

Hey now! What's wrong with looking good with your shirt off?
 

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with THAT, but it's just what I've learned! ;-)

Anon 1:33
 

I've also learned that the "formula" for cooking up a telenovela is based upon the assumption that the vast majority of its viewers will be women.

Thus, the writers assume we'll eat it up with a spoon when a handsome guy, often rich as well, comes down with a severe case of love at first sight when he first sees the heroine.

Unlike most men we encounter in real life he spends a great deal of time telling the heroine how much he adores her, how her eyes are like pools, how there can be no other woman for him now that he's found her.

Some dastardly plan has to be written in so that they don't walk off into the sunset the first week. Either a villain or a villainess, sometimes both working together, have to conspire to separate them.

But nothing shakes this undying love.
 

Unless someone happens to mention that maybe, possibly, there is a slight chance that his one true love may have had to make her way in love by (gasp) waitressing at one of "those" clubs, or even worse (double gasp), actually dancing for a living, then she instantly becomes a zorra or ramera and has to "fight for her love" for the rest of the novela, staying pure and celibate the whole time while he of course, poor thing, will have had to find comfort in the bed(s) of another (or others), which she will more than likely forgive in an instant because, after all, it's HER fault he's had to be such a jerk. And they will live happily ever after ... sure they will. :-)
 

Oops, "make her way in life" not love
 

Novelas teach us that if you have traditonal values, don't watch them. Rape, incest, sexual impurity, new age believe, undisciplined kids,whimpy men,smart wicked people and the list goes on. They are not to be watched with impressionable young people.

Hanna
 

Most Mexican men are misogynist.


 

A lot of times they show the BAD things for the purpose of highlighting how bad they are and the evildoers get their punishment, so I don't feel like those plotlines are a bad message.

But then there are other areas where I think they often send a bad message.

For example, the idea that if you're with someone you love, sex is wonderful and problem-free. Isn't the first time always fantastic? Never painful. Even if the man was a total mujeriego before meeting his One True Love, they never seem to insist that he get tested for diseases before they do it. There is never conflict over differing preferences or sex drives. Usually they don't worry about contraception. If they're making a point of how responsible they're being, they mention they used protection, with no discussion of failure rates of condoms. There's rarely any effort at waiting until they are settled and ready to have a baby.

And then there are the disaster relationships that would be miserable in real life, where the two protagonists cannot communicate, don't trust each other, and suffer from any number of personality disorders, yet once the villains stop bugging them, they're supposed to be able to live happily ever after without addressing their fundamental issues.

Another thing that bugs a bit is how nowadays a lot of stories have a plotline to tell us that being gay is okay, etc., but then the show production itself is all "BUT NOT REALLY!" in the way they they keep any of the gayness at arms' length.

I also hate how nearly the whole cast of every show is so European-looking. They should mix it up more, especially when the character would realistically more likely be mestizo or indiginous-looking.
 

These are the lessons I think Televisa puts out there:

Family before everything.
Take care of the elderly – don’t abandon them
Class is the big divide and should not be
When your true love comes along, that’s it. No other candidates need apply. There is one and only one true love in your life, and your love will prevail over everything, and will last your whole life.
The rest of your life will be happy if you marry your true love.
Drink milk
Go to school
It’s okay to give people nicknames that refer to their skin color or hair color.
Fair-skinned people are more desirable. Blond hair is more desirable.
Enormous breasts are more desirable
Tons of makeup is more desirable

Some of these things are good, but it worries me that Televisa, like Disney, has a very distinct morality, and that their ubiquity makes them able to promote their point of view to a massive audience.