Music is one of the most effective tools in expressing tone and emotional appeal to an audience. It is also a great form of entertainment and helps create a sense of community. In Pasion de Gavilanes, theme music is frequently utilized and helps the audience build a better understanding of characters and their relationships. “Telenovelas are artistic productions… Obviously, well defined ingredients must be included in the narrative, in the acting and the whole language of the telenovela, but this does leave room for creative processes.” (Tufte 139). Music is undoubtably a part of the creative process and is crucial to the success of a telenovela.
The theme song for Pasion de Gavilanes was written specifically for the use in the production. Sometimes there are already applicable songs that can be used as a theme song. This is the case with Betty La Fea. The words in this opening song do a great job of expressing some of the general ideas of the plot without giving too much away. It speaks of a mystery man who has an oddly captivating hold over a woman which she can’t seem to understand. Throughout the opening song the idea of unconditional love is explored. In this serious, unconditional love goes far beyond a romantic love but dives into the expression of familial love. This is important because it shows how multifaceted this story is and how complex life can be in general.
In telenovelas they also use a certain type of music repetitively during certain scenes so the audience can understand the mood with more clarity. For example, playing the same music every time there is a cliff hanger leads to build up of suspense. This can be helpful because oftentimes people don’t even need to speak Spanish to understand the general ideas of the plot. In Pasion de Gavilanes the same music plays every time Norma and Juan Reyes are together. It is a slower more passionate sounding song that helps build the feelings of intimacy and familiarity. I don’t even need to be watching the screen to know they are together just because the music is so iconic.
I see music utilized throughout many different telenovelas. I even personally listen to certain genres of music depending on my emotions, feelings and current mood. Does anybody else do this?
ReplyDeleteMusic is a great way to express the meaning of something or to make an audience feel a certain way. I feel that each culture uses music for many different reasons whether it's religious, for fun, to celebrate, to mourn, or to cope. Music is a very strong and powerful tool. In my opinion, I think that telenovelas would not be nearly as successful without the use of music. Music helps to set the scene and build suspense. Without suspense the audience has nothing to look forward to in the telenovela and will probably become uninterested. I can not think of a telenovela that does not utilize the power of music! Can you think of one? If so, Is it even worth watching?