Caray, Caray!

For the benefit of any newbies who want to catch up on novela classics, what are your favorites and why?

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Labels: amor, no-podia, por-ella, telenovelas, weekend

In view of the recent trend in novelas to have children in the position of keeping secrets, I thought this an apt discussion point.

Lauro and Victoria had the secret of Alejandro being alive and he and Victor being in Aguazul (which has now been blown to pieces).  Victoria still needs to keep the secret of the cell phone in Nadia's possession and we know that one won't last long.  It won't necessarily be her fault, either, as the close of last night's episode wasn't about the kids.

I personally don't believe that children should be burdened with secrets of any kind.  Children the ages of Victoria and Lauro aren't quite old enough to have a real grasp of the purpose of these secrets.  During that scene at school recess I started wondering who would overhear them.

There is also the issue of keeping secrets from kids.  If Lauro doesn't end up in a dangerous situation before this tale is over, what do you think Monserrat should do about what he doesn't yet know (Not that Alejandro should be left out of this decision but she knows him better due to the circumstances)?  What sort -- if any -- of family secrets should be shared with kids?  When?  How?

The floor is open

Labels: weekend

Narcissism is one of the most common mental disorders of telenovela villains.  Many people have a very simplistic definition of it:  Muhammad Ali.  His "I am the greatest" is how many people see narcissism.  The sad truth is that it's far more complex than that.

Narcissists see themselves as the center of the universe.  Everyone else exists for their purposes and once they cease to satisfy them, they either become evil or non-existent.  They are incapable of dealing with their own faults and assign them to others as a way of ridding themselves of them.  In extreme form they can be diagnosed with Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

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Labels: amor, bravio, Fuego, QBA, robo, telenovelas, weekend

One of the things inciting constant comment here is the fashion felonies committed by many female characters in novelas (or by the fashion consultants for the shows).  It seems that femme fatale rivals and villanas are the biggest offenders, although heroines can be guilty, too.  For our purposes today we will cover the villanas, particularly since we have such a stunning example in our current prime time.

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Labels: abismo, amor, familia, no-podia, robo, telenovelas, triunfo, weekend

By CorazonSalvaje:

Ignacio Sada Madero has a Simplemente Maria remake in the works (He is one who is capable of writing good novelas which are often overlooked but honestly mentioned with affection. La Intrusa comes to mind and I think the ONLY reason(s) Bajo Las Riendas del Amor was rebuffed at the Premios TVyNovelas is because Mejia was associated with it. That and Destilando Amor robbing everything cough-Pasion-cough. I think the only awards I agreed with that year were the ones going to Lola Erase Una Vez and Pasion albeit 2 each. I think-
TBLMOE or Ed. Santamarina deserved best homme lead (but let's be real, all three leads were worthy of the prize. The only other lead was Gabriel Soto whom I can't stand.)
Angelica Rivera or Adriana Fonseca deserved best femme lead (Tie please!)
Adamariz Lopez deserved best femme fatale (but Daniela Castro was worthy as well. Keep in mind I include Bajo Las Riendas since it WAS  a Carla Estrada refrito which was harassed by Mejia. So in a way, she has 2 things for her LOL)
Bouffy or Alexis Ayala deserved best homme fatale)
Ana Martin deserved her award but I'm a sucker for Silvia Mariscal.
Marisol and German from Pasion deserved their awards.
Direccion de Camaras- Lola Erase Una Vez just because.
Escenas-Destilando Amor (was there a love scene in a barn? I remember one that was hot. Either that or Pasion because of Bouffy's decapitation scene.)
The revelation award does deserve to go to Eiza but her nominee Ariadne deserved it as well. Maybe a tie (in 2012, there was a tie for it with Laura Carmine and Alejandra Garcia.)
Best kid role went to Octavio Ocana which I agree with just because I wanted Lola Erase Una Vez to win in all it's 3 nominations LOL. (Danna Paola could have begged for a tie however.)

What is your opinion on these shows?

Labels: telenovelas, weekend

Let's start with a theme song for this (which in another sense is Pedro Medina's anthem).

We've had discussions in the past over this essential Televisa element.  They always include elements of satisfaction or dissatisfaction we have with the writers' decisions.  If the original audience in Mexico (Televisa) or the US (Telemundo) isn't satisfied with the villains' final ends I'm sure they're vocal about it.

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Labels: Karmageddon, telenovelas, weekend

1. What fate do you think they deserve?
2. What do you think the writers will do to these perverse creatures?

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Labels: Karmageddon, siempre, weekend

Is this a viable idea?

There were two unsuccessful attempts a few years ago to do English-language novelas by two of the smaller networks.  They failed for two reasons:

1.  Poor acting, possibly due to poor writing
2.  Not ready for prime time in terms of gringo viewing habits

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Labels: weekend

Here I mean traveling where novelas are produced.  Who has been to Mexico, Columbia, Argentina, Spain, etc?  Have these places met expectation?  Did you have a good time?  How was your Spanish?

All the standard questions being asked, including what you saw and ate!

Labels: weekend

We've referenced this before, but with the recent incidents in Lo Que La Vida Me Robo, Mentir Para Vivir, and even the attempted rape in De Que Te Quiero Te Quiero we can't help but wonder whether novelas in general are going down a slippery slope that can't be tilted back.

In a previous discussion on this issue we seem to have come to the consensus that the rise of the narco stories came from the networks' desire to get more male viewers.  I don't know whether that's been working for them, but edgier has been the order of the day in all television and we need to ask ourselves whether there should be a limit.  In the US there is an irrational fear of sexual content in ad-supported television which until relatively recently hasn't affected the Spanish-language networks very much.  We're complaining here -- and justifiably -- when we become aware of hot love scenes being censored because they are censoring mostly scenes that show couples who actually love each other and actors who have the right chemistry to do scenes like that.  Why are television networks so afraid of the conservative moral watchdogs who -- if they were truly what they say they are -- aren't even watching these programs and theoretically shouldn't care about them?  These people don't control all the money in this country although they are trying hard.  We should not allow them to get a foothold into our private lives.

Why instead are they not censoring violence?  Violence is the real obscenity in modern society and the constant exposure to it takes away much of its shock value.  The occasional violent scene with bruises, bloodshed, etc., can be powerful; too many such and people will begin to shrug it off.  Is this some unconscious Darwinian element nobody has identified?

Villains are also becoming more perverse as we continue down this path. Porque el Amor Manda gave us a female villain who emotionally abused her own child (as in 5 years old in the opening of the story), Amor Bravio had a male villain who raped his own niece, even planning it so that it happened just as she became mayor de edad, and a sexual blackmailer forcing the heroine into her Tosca moment (as an opera fan I sometimes wish she would have taken the same action).   LQLVMR and PSMA are currently giving us villains of such extreme sociopathy they're making our flesh crawl.  Not an episode goes by on this blog that someone doesn't comment on that.

At the moment in a series like LQLVMR violence is the price tag we're paying for the otherwise good writing and the chemistry of the two leads.  I'm not ready to walk away from such a situation, but if Televisa reads this blog, this is to let them know that there is only so much violence we should be able to tolerate in the name of ratings.

Sound off, amigos.

Labels: bravio, Manda, mentir, robo, te-quiero, telenovelas, weekend

Labels: telenovelas, weekend

...or novelas of all time.  What are they and why are they your favorites?  Do you favor a particular genre or is it the actors or authors that are the attraction?

Weigh in, amigos!

Labels: telenovelas, weekend

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Labels: robo, weekend

Much has been said among social anthropologists about the Ideal Female Face, shown here with Jessica Alba as the example:

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Labels: stars, telenovelas, weekend

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Labels: Karmageddon, mentir, weekend

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Labels: Alborada, eva, Fuerza, Karmageddon, Manda, mentir, refugio, robo, telenovelas, weekend

Anthony Comstock, Father of Modern Censorship

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Labels: Alborada, bravio, no-podia, QBA, robo, telenovelas, weekend

What cultural head-scratchers get you every time you watch a novela?

I'd love to know whether men and women still interact as though it were the Victorian age.  Mexican women go to college and have careers; shouldn't that have eliminated the ridiculous notion that they exist only for their men and their children?  Despite it being a comedy, the sexism in Por Ella Soy Eva really was disturbing.  Do Mexican fathers really devalue their daughters like that?

Do parents really call their children "princesa," "mi reina", "mi rey," etc.?  This really bugs me because I can't help thinking that this is more appropriate for a significant other.  I can't help thinking that applying this to a child is spoiling them and giving them a sense of entitlement.

Sound off, amigos.

Labels: por-ella, telenovelas, weekend

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Labels: barbara, duelo, Fuego, Indomable, Talisman, telenovelas, weekend

Labels: mentir, siempre, telenovelas, weekend