My fellow melodrama lovers, I am sad to announce that this is the final edition of "Sabrina's Odd Rambles About Telenovelas". I know I know, this is a very depressing announcement, but the class is over </3. However, as a treat, I have decided to make my last blog post an analysis of the three main characters from Un Bandido Honrado and how they fit into the traditional gender roles of telenovelas.
Let's start with everyone's favorite, Emilio (this is sarcasm):
- Great smile? Um, conventionally . . . sure! In my personal opinion, his smile is nice and all but it's a bit . . . awkward.
- Charismatic? Definitely! I mean, you can't become a super successful drug lord without having the personality to convince or manipulate people to buy your products.
- Wealthy? Now, yes, but it's revealed in episode 3 that Emilio grew up poor, so a slight twist I suppose.
- Makes mistakes but corrects them? Helloooooo, that's the whole plot of Bandido Honrado!
It's time to move on to everyone's real favorite: Milé!
- Beautiful, naive, pure? Yes, no, and NO! Milé is gorgeous, but she's not naive to her husband's infidelity and doesn't shy away from her sexuality.
- Poor? Not since she married Emilio, that's for sure. However, her backstory reveals that she wasn't from the most well-off family ever, as she was a waitress at a club Emilio visited once, which is how they met.
- Geographical journey? If moving from your compound in the hills to your MIL's house in a working-class neighborhood counts, then yes!
Last, but definitely not least, we have Natalia:
- Beautiful, naive, pure? Just like Milé, Natalia is stunning, but she's not naive in the slightest and uses her sexuality to manipulate Emilio not only for money but also to make certain legal decisions.
- Poor? Currently, no. But we don't know much about her backstory, and Emilio does owe her money . . .
- Geographical journey? Not really, though she did travel to the compound to see Emilio a few times before it was sold.
Well, this is the end. Farewell, friends :( and good luck to everyone on the paper and all of our other midterms! We're going to do great!
Sabrina Felix, signing off!
Hi Sabrina! I loved reading your fun breakdown on each character, and how the tropes we learned in class manifests or doesn't manifest in each of them. For example, with characters like Mile, I find that shows with female protagonists who aren't naive and "innocent" are sometimes much easier to root for. I swear it's sooo frustrating watching show and constantly seeing the main female protagonist constantly get the short end of the stick and being unaware of the obvious mistreatment!
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