Browsing by Subject "Telenovelas"

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Imagined reality : black womanhood, telenovela representation, and racial discourse in Brazil
(2016-08) Ribeiro, Monique H.; Vargas, João Helion Costa; Sawyer, Mark; Straubhaar, Joseph; Franklin, Maria; Gordon, Edmund
Although Brazil is composed of an overwhelmingly large population of African descendants, they are usually underrepresented in the mainstream media, particularly in telenovelas (soap operas). The genre has been widely popular in South American countries for the past three decades but Brazil is the largest producer of this kind of programming, Afro descendant actors are generally seen in very small numbers and often portrayed in subaltern roles. Whenever a new soap opera is aired, its author makes his or her rounds in different television shows, magazines, and newspapers in order to publicize the new production. Watching these interviews, it becomes clear that that Brazil does not have any Black scriptwriters, which further complicates the situation, leaving white men and women to construct Black womanhood according to whatever way they see fit. This dissertation builds on research conducted during fieldwork in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It focuses specifically on the relevance to black Brazilian women’s roles on Brazilian soap operas and how the messages contained in such television shows may or may not impact the process of black female identity formation. This ethnographic dissertation employs participant observation as well interviews with black women to demonstrate how their self-identity and quotidian experiences challenge the interpellation produced by telenovelas.
Literary translations : telenovelas in contemporary Chicana literature
(2008-12) Graf, Amara Ann; Perez, Domino Renee, 1967-
Chicana literature is often discussed in relation to broad literary or theoretical movements (post-modernism, magic realism, or feminism) but these approaches often fail to account for or even consider other culturally derived sources of critical interrogation. For example, Chicana authors, through direct references or allusions, demonstrate that Spanish-language soap operas, known as telenovelas, have a cultural currency that can bridge people across generations, nationalities, and class differences. Telenovelas also have theoretical value, for these productions often feature stories that address issues of race, class, gender, nationality, language, and violence. Reading contemporary Chicana literature through the lens of the telenovela, including its history and status as a cultural form, reveals the ways in which Chicana authors not only rely on but also revise the form. They disrupt the rigid Manichean world view present in telenovelas by challenging heteronormative romance and traditional gender roles to allow for alternate stories, where endings are not always tidy or happy. Drawing on recent ethnographic research in communication studies, I examine the history of Spanish-language television within the U.S. to substantiate the cultural currency of and show how the telenovela permeates and informs Mexican-American identity. Relying on the work of Jesús Martín-Barbero, I trace the development of the melodrama and romance genres out of which telenovelas emerge, evolving from newspaper serials, radionovelas, fotonovelas, to comic strip novels or libros semanales. I focus on the literary roots of the telenovela genre (with its origins in 19th century European serialized fiction) in relation to early Mexican-American historical romance narratives (María Amparo Ruiz de Burton, Jovita González, and Eve Raleigh). Based on Gustavo Aprea and Rolando C. Martínez Mendoza's definition of the telenovela genre, I examine how contemporary Chicana fiction (Denise Chávez, Ana Castillo, Sandra Cisneros, and Nina Marie Martínez) both conforms to and deviates from the generic conventions. I provide a culturally based critical strategy for offering alternate readings of Chicana literature to show how these authors use the popularity of the telenovela form to reach a specific audience and lend new insight into how viewers, familiar with the genre conventions, are comparable to literary critics.
(Self) representations of domestic workers : race and gender politics in Brazil
(2013-05) Perrine, Alida; Leu, Lorraine
On April 16, 2012, the much awaited primetime telenovela appropriately titled Cheias de Charme premiered on Rede Globo, the largest Brazilian television network, and viewers across the nation were introduced to as três Marias, the three charming protagonists who, in a rare occurrence on the network, are domestic workers. It is no surprise that domestic workers should be of interest to Brazilian television viewers; paid domestic work is an enormous part of daily life in Brazil and domestic workers make up nearly eight percent of the work force. This project builds on previous explorations of the unique relationships between domestic employers and employees in Brazil, as well as examinations of the traditional ways in which domestic workers have been imagined to draw a clearer image of the changing role of paid domestic work in Brazilian society. Part ethnographic study and part media analysis, this study is mainly preoccupied with exploring various representations of domestic workers. These representations speak to the tensions and contradictions surrounding the social dynamics of the intimate relationships between domestic workers and their employers, as well as the role of domestic work in Brazilian society, haunted by the legacy of nearly four-hundred years of slavery.