What is special about
telenovelas?
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| First of the many telenovelas to be aired on TV |
TELENOVELAS swept through Ghana
in the early 2000’s with the introduction of Esmeralda, a telenovela released
by Televisa in 1997. It was aired on TV3, then owned by the Malaysians.
It was a
new TV station at the time and viewers caught the bud and relished the viewing
experience. As many got glued to their TV sets, they fell in love with the
telenovela and thus helped in making Esmeralda, one of the most famous telenovelas
in Ghana. Other TV stations were soon to follow, including GTV, the Station of
the Nation.
Prior to the introduction of
Esmeralda, viewers had a taste of a Mexican soap opera dubbed “Acapulco Bay.”
It received a resounding applause from the audience and there were reports that
some houses were razed down by fire as a result of the soap opera, since it was aired during one of Ghana’s
“dum sor, dum sor” days.
For those who may not know what a
telenovela is, here is a little education to help: It is a limited-run serial
dramatic programming quite distinct from
soap operas, for telenovelas come to an end after a long run (generally
less than one year). 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
medium has been used repeatedly to transmit socio-cultural messages by incorporating
them into storylines. They are also popular in the Philippines and North
America.
Soap operas are usually referred
to as such because they are serial dramas on television or radio featuring multiple related story lines
dealing with the lives of multiple characters. Some soap operas have been known
to run for decades.
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| One of the many soap operas still running on our screens |
A flood of telenovelas
Esmeralda told the story of a
poor blind girl who fell in love with a rich handsome guy. Her vulnerability
and, of course, the rich family’s objection to the marriage kept viewers glued
to their seats. Then came ‘Pangako sa yo’ (Promise to You), ‘La mujer de mi vida’ (The Woman
of My Life), La Usurpadora (The Usurper), ‘Valentina,’ ‘Las dos caras de Anna’ (The Two Faces of Anna), ‘La
Revancha’ (The Revenge), ‘Cuando seas mea’ (When You Are Mine), ‘Juana La
Virgen’ (Joana the Virgin).
FEW OF THE EARLIEST TELENOVELAS
Shortly thereafter, we had ‘Rosalinda,’ ‘Rebecca,’ ‘En nombre del amar’ (In the Name
of Love), ‘Passion de gavilantes’ (Passion of Hawks), ‘La hija de jardinero’
(The Gardener’s Daughter),’ Mi pecado’ (My Sin), ‘Teresa’ (Theresa), ‘Tormenta
en el paraiso’ (Storm in the Paradise), ‘Mar de amor’ (Curse by the Sea), ‘El
cuerpo del deseo’ (Second Chance).
LATER TELENOVELAS
Quite recently, all TV stations
have been flooded with the likes of ‘El clon’ (The Clone), ‘Un refugio para el
amor’ (A Shelter for Love), ‘Triunfo del amor’ (Love Triumph), ‘Lola
Calamidades’ (Lola Calamities), ‘En nombre del Amor’ (In the Name of Love), ‘La tormenta’ (The Torment), ‘Corazon Salvaje’ (Wild Heart),
‘La que no podia amar’ (The One Who Could Not Love). Now we have ‘Una Maid en
Manhatta’ (Maid in Manhattan), ‘Collar De Esmeraldas’ (Emerald Necklace), ‘Corazon
Indomable’ (Wild at Heart), and many more in the offing.
RECENT TELENOVELAS
Telenovela mania?
Like many other girls, I was
enthused and obsessed with telenovelas. I never missed a single episode. I remember
halting my studies for exams the next day in order to watch my favourite telenovela “Second Chance.” My passion for
telenovelas was so intense that I could navigate from station to station to
watch each and every telenovela. Surprisingly, I had each story line in mind and
to a large extent, Youtube became my friend as I always either read the story
line or watched via the internet. No wonder guys always say all girls love
telenovelas. It is worthy of note that the elderly (teachers, parents,
traders), virtually all age groups have joined the bandwagon. Believe it or
not, some men cannot do without telenovelas.
Self-scrutiny
Now looking back, I keep asking
myself, What benefits have I derived from watching telenovelas? Aside from getting
entertained, intrigued and being kept in suspense to envisage what was going to
happen next, I honestly feel I have wasted precious hours. Admittedly, the plots got most people glued
to their seats, but let’s face it; telenovelas generally end in the same way, a
white wedding or simply acceptance.
Frankly, my love for telenovelas
has faded because personal experience with these telenovelas has taught me that
it is always a battle of good against evil, a poor girl who is looked down upon
ends up falling in love with the rich, or the lead characters find love in the
first instance, then break up and then the rest of the story unfolds with they
getting back together, with the odds weighing against them. Personally, ‘Second
Chance’ and ‘El Clon’ featured different story lines, but in the end love still
triumphed. That has been the recurrent
pattern. So I ask, what really is special about telenovelas? Is one story
really different from the other?
Those who doubt the above
observations may benefit from research from the search engine of Wikipedia which shows that couples who
kiss each other in the first minutes of the first episode sometimes stay
together for many episodes before the scriptwriter plots a breakup and by the
time the telenovela gets to a climax, the couples are united again.
If you are a regular patron of
telenovelas, you will notice that they are so predictable that you can miss a
couple of episodes and still catch up with the fun and excitement. This has been the trend of telenovelas from
time immemorial and it is sad we have never realized it. I guess when they
write ‘Fin’ (End) for any telenovela, we as viewers are satisfied that the
cause of justice was served and that those of deviant character deserved what
they got!
Sadly, there is a fierce competition
between TV stations over who gets the largest viewers. Considering that telenovelas steal so much of
our precious time, it is not healthy that some stations air more than one at a
time on any given day. My investigations
reveal that the TV stations pay some rights to the owners of these telenovelas.
So is it a way of pulling “traffic” to their station or it is a money-making venture
to attract sponsors?
My honest opinion is that if the TV stations do not have
anything to show, they should bring back old shows like ‘Taxi Driver,’ ‘Inspector
Bediako,’ Thursday Theatre, ‘By the Fireside,’
‘Children’s Own’ and all the
truly wholesome entertaining stuff that mesmerized us and moulded our childhood
right through adolescence.
For the many critics in Ghana, entertainment
content is gradually becoming an issue of national concern and needs to be seriously
addressed. Are parents not at all worried to see their children glued to TV
sets watching telenovelas at the expense of schoolwork? Telenovelas are fairy tales and life certainly
is not a fairy tale!
Finally, to the many TV stations
and those yet to spring up, kindly direct your attention more to local content
and put a stop to the multitudinous telenovelas. Some of us are just tired of
them. We now yearn for wholesome, local entertainment.
End
