Perspective on Telenovela Characteristics

 In class when we were discussing Juana La Virgen, it was really intriguing to me that in Latin America vs. the U.S., there is such a gap in the perception of age and what is appropriate societally. In my own home, my father, who is Colombian, is 11 years older than my mother, who is American. Due to this, the idea of a large age gap between couples isn't foreign to me at all or particularly strange. However, when it was mentioned during our class discussion that Juana was 17 and the father of her child was in his late 20s, most of the class had an audible reaction of disgust or dislike, while I was wondering whether or not they ended up together. Maybe it's because I grew up with parents who had a large age gap or saw age gaps in telenovelas as a child, but I've never really perceived couples like that in television as odd or weird. Although in real life I do find it strange when very old or middle-aged men are with super young women. It could be that it just feels different on television than in real life, or when seeing people with 20+ year age gaps. I do, however, think that the mentality has changed some within the Latin American community over the last several years.  I find that on social media and in newer teeny TV shows, there are fewer relationships shown among people who aren't close in age.

I've also thought extensively about our class discussions, especially about the villains and antagonists. The presentations and explanations on how telenovelas are structured have really made me think about how women are shown and perceived in Latin America. For example, all of the female antagonists are very smart, calculating, and experienced. These women, who are considered evil, have a purpose in the story, they are driven towards a goal. Often they're educated and occasionally they even work in prestigious positions. Whereas the protagonists are super naive, innocent, not very smart, and gullible. As we've spoken about in class, they tend to be virgins and inexperienced. I would think that as a society we would want to encourage young women and girls to be intelligent, experienced, and perceptive. Instead, these characteristics are demonized by popular media, which would rather glorify naivete and innocence. Though I can't say that these characteristics are intentionally portrayed to be negative, I think it's very convenient that Latin American society has a tendency to show women who are intelligent and independent as villains. In telenovelas, strong women who know what they want, are intelligent, and sometimes brash, meet a terrible and unhappy ending. The super nice and naive protagonist marries her prince and lives happily ever after, often achieving all of this based mostly on her looks. In my personal life, from my father's side of the family, there was always an emphasis on being uber-feminine, soft-spoken, and delicate. That is what Latin America drives young women to be, and in some ways, I feel that ideology is enforced through popular media and television.