TELENOVELAS By Harriet, Max and Beth

What is it?

A “telenovela" means "television novel".

Telenovela’s are soaps normally spoken in Spanish and aired in Latin America, although they are similar to British soaps they have distinctive differences such as instead of a story lining lasting a couple of episodes these storylines last nearly a year.

Another thing that makes telenovelas different from British soaps is that normally in a scene where you see a couple kissing they normally have a long lasting relationship, so it portrays a higher set of morals than British soaps. It is only recently that these soaps have started introducing more taboo subjects.

Because the audience of these telenovelas have a Catholic upbringing, sex is a very taboo subject, so extreme storylines that are shown in these shows, are not supposed to be believable, unlike British melodramas or realistic soaps. Telenovelas are intended to be seen as a form of entertainment.

Telenovelas are designed to be very melodramatic even to the point of being funny to some audiences. Also, these programs use plot twists to build audiences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3Y3hR8A4_Q

Telenovelas tend to fall within these six categories:

1.Working-class melodrama, which is easy to understand and contains less explicit content. They typically feature a poor woman who falls in love with a rich man whose family reject her.

2.Historical romance, which is set in the past, such as the late 19th Century .

3.Teen drama, which portrays the lives of high school teenagers and their issues with sex, drugs, and other coming-of-age topics.

4.Mystery/Thriller, is more cold hearted than the other sub-genres. It may portray a mysterious death or disappearance, which may tear couples, even families apart.

5.Romantic comedy, which portrays love stories with some or lots of comedy.

6.Pop band story which portrays the lives of aspiring musicians

The origins of telenovelas

Telenovelas, which are sometimes called "tassels" or "comedias", are produced primarily in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries and are usually shown during prime time. The first telenovelas were produced in Brazil, Cuba and Mexico.

Currently, the best-known telenovelas come from Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Chile and Venezuela.

Telenovelas also have a wide following in Russia, Eastern Europe, France, Greece, Italy, the Philippines, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, China and Japan.

Audience

In the Arab world, telenovelas are incredibly popular with families stopping their day from midday onward to watch these shows whose contents often reflect many of the moral and social questions faced in cultures like Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt.

Telenovelas get large audiences on there shows, the 1997 blockbuster Soy Tu Duena staring Manual Mijares got more than 40 million viewers on Mexican Television alone. Reasons for these high audiences are because of high budgets The record $10 million budget for La Reina — Telemundo’s highest-rated and most expensive telenovela. All telenovela’s have english subtitles showing they are popular in Engalnd.

Telenovelas editing techniques

The lighting is quite strong on the actors face to make them appear bright and plastic.

Reaction shots are used to add drama.

Two shots are often used, especially in scenes with couples.

Sound

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ykxz0oJDFk&feature=relmfu

The music is constantly anchoring the Spanish / Latin American culture.

The non-diegetic soundtrack on telenovelas, is classical, unlike a soundtrack that would be found on a US TV show.

Stereotypes Stereotypes of telenovelas:•They will have a rich guy falling in love with a poor girl•They will have a priest that is always nosing on everyone’s business.•This priest will be the link between the rich and poor.•In novelas the people from Northern Mexico all wear sombreros and have mustaches, people from the south of Mexico will have colorful clothes and sometimes, there have been cases, they resemble indigenous people.•Real, authentic Mexicans will never be the heroes or protagonists. Instead they will have someone with colored eyes or even blondes. •The poor people will in a colourful accent called ‘Chilango’•The rich become poor and the Poor become rich•The poor are more humble and the rich are more arrogant •Will have a Cinderella type storyline.•There can also be storylines with baby snatching•Catfights. •Sibling rivalry. •Lots of sex

Character Stereotypes

Loving MotherActs as head of the family.

VillainThe main peorson to bring disater.

Beautiful Girl/ Femme FataleAn attractive and seductive woman, especially. one who will ultimately bring disaster to a man who becomes involved with her. usually extravagantly dressed with big hair and lots of makeup.

Macho Man/Rich ManUsually the main character that falls in love with a female character. He is also very rich.

Awards

The most important Telenovela award shows are the Mexican TVyNovelas Award, hosted by the Televisa TVyNovelas magazine.

In 2008, The International Emmy Awards created a category for best Telenovelas.

Famous TelenovelasRebelde Rubi

The beautiful but poor Rubí will do anything to make her dream reality and become rich - she will even give up the greatest love of her life.

Elite Way School is an exclusive private school with international prestige where the majority of the students are young adults with a high social and economic status.

Telenovela version of Ugly Betty.

The Prettiest Ugly Girl

Ugly betty Originally, Ugly Betty started out as a telenovela but because the company that produced the show wanted to branch out into more taboo areas they sold the programme to NBC but they still kept the telenovela themes such as every scene before an add break was left on a cliff hanger.

This scene is from Ugly Betty, the characters in this scene are exaggurating what happens in a usual Telenovela. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bex1SrxV8gE