The International Aspect of Telenovelas

     As we continue to dive deeper into the world of telenovelas, there are many factors that I find that I had never even thought to consider when thinking about the success of telenovelas. One of the most interesting things that we have discussed, to me, this far has been the international success of telenovelas. I had always assumed, naturally, that they would have success in their local regions (i.e. Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, etc.). However, when it comes to international success, I have a much better understanding now. 

    We touched on the factors that are the most important when determining international telenovela success. The first being, "Will the story travel?" This is arguably the most important factor. A weak story will not be successful. I would consider myself to be a very tough critic of film, so if the story does not captivate me right off the bat, I tend to disregard the entire series. Similarly, I believe that a successful telenovela is one that has a storyline that is captivating cross culturally. We have seen, though, how this can be tough with censorship. An example of this is Turkish dramas. It can be hard to have a captivating love story with such tough censorship. This is not to say that they are not successful, but it definitely is a boundary.

    The second factor that we discussed is the cast. Again, as a tough critic, I am more inclined to watch a series with familiar actors. The world of film is very interconnected, and the more well-known an actor is, the more likely the viewership will be successful. We even said in class how some casting directors will settle for a more well-known actor and sacrifice some talent for a role. This is interesting, because it made me reflect on the films that I have watched solely because of the actor/actress. Whether or not this is the right thing to do, it still helps determine international success of a telenovela. 

    The third and last factor we discussed is quality of production. In my my personal opinion, this is the factor that I pay attention to the most. Within 2 minutes of a series/telenovela/movie, I can tell if it is well made based on the quality of the film. A large portion of my opinion is based on the quality of production, so I can see how this would determine international success. In all honesty, one of the main reasons I was skeptical about telenovelas at the start of the semester was because in my mind, I had a clear image of the stereotypical telenovela that didn't have the best quality of production. I see now that there are a wide array of telenovelas that have different production quality. Knowing these three factors gives me a new lens to view telenovelas with. I would even go as far to say that I can apply these three factors to other films, not just telenovelas. I feel like knowing these three things better equips me to be a more suitable film critic.