"Untraditional" Character Representations in "The Marked Heart"

 

        As mentioned in class, in every classic telenovela there is a certain set of characters and character representations that you will commonly find in a traditional telenovela, such as “The Cinderella”, “The Prince”, “The evil mother in law”, “the antagonist”, etc. In my telenovela of choice, The Marked Heart, we can still see these character representations even though they may be presented in a different form. At first glance watching this telenovela, I came to the conclusion that these traditional character representations weren't included in the drama because it was more “modern” or “realist” as compared to traditional. However, as I continued to watch, I realized that almost all of these classic character representations were accounted for in the storyline but were presented in a different way. For example, in your traditional telenovela triangle, the antagonist is usually the “evil” counterpart of “Cinderella”, but in The Marked Heart, the antagonist represents itself as the counterpart of “the prince” character and a black market organization. Once I made this realization, it was much easier to recognize these traditional representations being presented in a more “untraditional” way. While more modern dramas may stray slightly from the traditional setup of a telenovela, these traditional character representations can still be found, you just may have to shift your point of view to recognize them.