El Dragón- Gender Representation

 

As I have continued watching, I have tried to incorporate and tie in what we have learned in class and see the prevalence of this information in El Dragón. One of these specific topics that I wish to explore is the role of gender, specifically women, in this particular telenovela. Before we even arrived at the topic of gender in class, there were a few glaring examples that made me want to explore the portrayal of women.

I will start by saying that so far into my watching, El Dragón is a predominately masculine show. So far the protagonist and the antagonist/villian are both male. There are reoccurring female characters no doubt. What is interesting to me, though, is within the first few episodes the tone is set for how women are viewed. And the most shocking part to me is that there are two complete opposite ends of the spectrum.

One of the first female leads we are introduced to in El Dragón is Asya, Miguel's love interest. Over the few episodes that we see her in the first season, she is portrayed and pure, sweet, naive, and all things good. I feel as though this corresponds with what we learned in class about how women can be portrayed as needing to be "pure" (the virgin vs prostitute theory). While she may not be a virgin (it is never directly stated), she definitely takes on the characteristics of virgins in most telenovelas. Though she is only with us for a few short episodes (due to suicide), she is still one of the first women introduced, so she is part of setting the narrative for women in this telenovela. The act of suicide itself seems to go against this persona of innocence and purity that Asya has taken on. 

In a complete contrast, I observed that women are portrayed in a way that falls on the opposite end of the spectrum. There is one particular scene that stood out to me that takes place at the house of the villain, Epigmenio. This particular scene radiates extreme masculinity in multiple ways, but one of those ways is the interaction between man and woman. The scene can be characterized by Epigmenio displaying himself on an expensive horse that he bought. The horse jumps, causing Epigmenio to fall off. Enraged, he shoots the horse and kills it. He then goes into a fit of anger. At this point, I was astounded by the overwhelming amount of masculinity this scene held. Towards the end, though, as Epigmenio and his followers were headed inside, they pass a pair of women. As the women pass them, one of the devoted followers of Epigmenio turns around and looks the women up and down and smiles, as if he is pleased with their physique. We do not know the women's names, but it seemed as though they were just subjected to their physical bodies. I found this interesting, and I am sure El Dragón is not the only telenovela that portrays women in several different ways. 

As I continue watching, I see more women introduced that have more depth than just their physical appearance, and I am excited to see the role that they take on. As early as episode 3 we are introduced to Adela, who seems to have a lot of spunk. I'm excited to see her character development!