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Driver's Seat
Hispanic soapers
By BOB DRIVER, columnist
Article published on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006 |
Soap operas began as daily radio shows in the 1930s. “Ma Perkins” and “John’s Other Wife” helped get America through the Great Depression. When TV arrived in the 1940s, it didn’t take long for the soapers to graduate to the small screen. They have been a major industry ever since.
Today a handful of soap operas dominate the English-language market. But a challenge to them has now arrived: Hispanic soapers, called telenovelas. As immigrants from Latin America have swelled the U.S. population, so has the demand for Spanish-language melodrama.
Once you watch a telenovela, you may never go back to “The Young and The Restless” or any other Anglo soaper. Let me tell you why.
Anglo soapers have no ending. They drag on forever, like herpes. But Hispanic soaps tell a complete story in only a few months. The good guys are rewarded, the bad guys get shot or knifed. It’s very satisfying to see all the loose ends tied up. Then we can move on to another exciting plot.
The performers (both male and female) in telenovelas are more glamorous and better-looking. Most of the women are flat-out gorgeous. They disdain the slim, well-bred look of Anglo soap actresses. Instead, they are curvy; even the over-40 actresses look juicy as a ripe mango. The young men are dashing matinee idols. The older men – including those who are rotten to the core – still dress well and shave each day. The women’s fashions fall in between chic and campy, much like Oscar night or a Spiegel’s catalog.
In Hispanic soapers, the plots and the acting are over the top. Sublety and nuance are out the window. Love, hate, lust, jealousy, revenge – all the emotions that make life worth living – are tattooed (so to speak) on the actors’ faces in letters 3 inches high.
Some plot elements are predictable, and thus fun to watch as they show up. The young heroine is usually a virgin as the story begins. The first time she goes to bed with a man, she gets pregnant. Naturally, she must be punished by fate and by society. But in the end she is redeemed by a noble, rich man, who has in turn been betrayed by a conniving woman who is not, and never was, a virgin.
Generally speaking, Hispanic soap operas are funnier than gringo soaps (even if the humor is unintentional). The action is faster, the tears are saltier.
If I were a high school Spanish teacher, I would recommend that my students watch at least an hour of Hispanic soaps per week. I would ask that students write down a typical plot and the words that occur most often. Here is one possible example, with Spanish translation of some of the words:
Maria, a beautiful virgin (virgen), meets Carlos, a rich physician (doctor) with a jealous sister (hermana) named Anna. Anna’s husband (marido), Pedro, is a cowardly (ni cojones) drunk (bebido) lawyer (abogado). Maria finds herself pregnant (embarazado). When Carlos promises (promesas) to marry (casan) Maria, he is poisoned by Anna, who will now inherit his money (dinero). But her husband Pedro betrays (traiciona) her to the police (policia). A brave detective (detective), Rafael, takes pity (compasion) on Maria and marries her. He is then murdered by a cocaine dealer. Maria flees to Spain and joins a convent (convento). Her baby son is kidnapped by renegade Presbyterians. End of story.
There may be easier, more enjoyable ways to learn Spanish than watching telenovelas, but I can’t think of any.
Send Bob Driver an e-mail at tralee71@comcast.net.
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Article published on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006
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