The Influence Of Telenovelas On Latino Culture

Influence of Telenovelas in Latino Culture

Telenovelas(novelas) are a big part of Latino culture. They are the most well-liked genre of television show aired on the prime-time TV throughout the Latin-Americas.1 This style of melodramatic narrative got its start in radio broadcast circa 1960. Popular radio scripts were quickly adapted to meet television standards and distributed to Latin American countries by means of broadcast syndication. The themes of these shows often touched on sensitive issues; concerns shared by Latino cultures around the world. Their immense popularity amplifies the message contained in these shows which sometimes results in social change. This paper will highlight this phenomenon and examine the effects it has

Old world social norms and values that still exist today are heavily influenced by Christian moral code, especially when it comes to sensitive matters. The Bible's is very explicit about certain topics and this attitude, the lack of tolerance by the Church, means that the issues are often completely shut out. I can see how someone outside of my culture might find this way of life a bit strange but the truth is that this is how it is for many Latinas in Mexico and the U.S. There are lots of Hispanic people whose lives are upset by uncompromising religious beliefs and old world cultural standards. To get an idea of approximately how many Latinos are affected by this I reviewed a survey 2011 conducted by Pew Research of religions in the U.S. The study revealed that over than 33% of U.S. Latinos self-identified as Catholic and over 50% reported to be members of some kind of Christian based religion.4 While my family did not belong to the Catholic faith, our religion(Apostolicism) followed many of the same maxims propagated by the Catholic Church. We read the Bible, believed in heaven and feared the immortal damnation of our souls if we lived a life in sin. I had a hard time relating to my peers at school because I was unable to talk about topics that youth discussed openly. This is where the telenovela stepped in to bridged the

The mass appeal of these programs helps society progress and ease into difficult subject matter. People connect to the relationships of the characters they see on TV. Many telenovelas also incorporate into their narratives important women's issues from domestic abuse to racism to abortion and homosexuality and more. One of the longest running telenovela series is called "Mujer: Casos de la Vida Real," which roughly translates to "Women: Cases of Real Life." This series has been running since 1985 on Mexican television and was first aired after a major earthquake shook up Mexico City. The show was produced by Televisa and was meant to assist victims of the natural disaster but it didn’t exactly fulfill its purpose. Nevertheless, after witnessing the overwhelming response from the Mexican public, executives at Televisa decided to continue the programming to use the influence of mass media to raise awareness of various women's issues. It took about five years for the themes to mature since Mexican society in the 1980s was not ready to discuss such topics as domestic violence yet. By the early 1990s, though, themes took a sore serious tone and included cases of rape, incest, child abuse, prostitution, LGBT