Sex, soap, and society: telenovela noir in Álvaro Uribe's Colombia
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Morgan, Nick [1]
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[1] Newcastle University
Newcastle University
Reino Unido
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- Localización: Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies, ISSN-e 1469-9524, ISSN 1470-1847, Vol. 19, Nº. 1, 2013, págs. 53-76
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
This article explores the phenomenon of the narconovela, a variant of the telenovela which emerged in Colombia in the 2000s, gaining huge audiences and dominating the ratings. Taking as its starting point the seminal work of Jesús Martín-Barbero in the 1980s and 90s, it examines the critical reaction to these sensationalist crime stories, questioning the common assumption that their popularity confirms a decline in the moral values of the viewing public. Drawing parallels with film noir, it notes how the pleasure taken in viewing melodramatic and dystopian fictions reveals a number of social tensions without implying that what is in any case a highly diverse audience approves of what it sees on screen. Rather, it understands the narconovela as a dramatisation of the darkest aspects of Colombian common sense which is interpreted in different ways by different social subjects. As part of the argument, it provides a detailed analysis of Sin tetas no hay paraíso, the series which inaugurated the new subgenre, and concludes with the consideration of two small viewer surveys.
