CUBA:
The ‘Telenovela’ as
Springboard for Public
Debate
By Dalia Acosta
HAVANA (IPS) -
Months have gone by and
he still receives
suspicious calls on his
cell-phone. Memories of
a woman who became
obsessed with him are
triggered every time
Chucho sees a popular
prime time Brazilian TV
"telenovela".
"When she found out that
I wanted to break up,
she started to harass me
madly, tracking my every
move, calling my
cell-phone at all hours,
and coming on to me
sexually all the time,
and when she saw that I
was rejecting her, the
situation deteriorated
into violence," the
25-year-old told IPS.
Chucho constantly sees
himself reflected in the
story of Eloisa and
Sergio, one of a number
of couples featured in
the telenovela (serial)
"Mulheres Apaixonadas"
(Passionate Women) that
is showing three times a
week on Cubavisión, one
of Cuban state
television’s four
national channels, and
is watched by millions
of viewers.
Eloisa is aware that she
"loves too much" and can
even go to the extreme
of almost killing her
husband; Raquel does not
know how to get away
from her violent
husband; Helena has
placed all her hopes on
reviving a lost romance;
and Lorena is facing the
consequences of living
with a younger man who
she says "could be my
son."
"In Latin America, and
in Cuba in particular,
telenovelas are helping
to prompt public
discussion on issues
that would be impossible
to bring up in other
settings," University of
Havana history Professor
Julio César González
Pagés told IPS.
"Questions like AIDS,
sexual diversity and
marginalisation are
reflected in these
programmes more
intensely than aspects
of high society or
high-brow culture," said
González Pagés, head of
the Ibero-American
Masculinity Network.
"The relationship
between men and women is
also important,
especially because in
many cases relationships
go beyond the times when
love followed the Romeo
and Juliet model."
"Passionate Women" deals
with a broad range of
social issues like
gender violence,
alcoholism, the romance
between two teenage
lesbians and their
relationships with their
families, sexual
harassment, prostitution
and adoption.
But although the
telenovela approaches
these questions in a
"politically correct"
manner, Cuban journalist
Isabel Moya argues that
"it is practically
impossible to delve in
depth into such a wide
range of issues, and
many are dealt with in a
fairly superficial way."
"The essential
underlying problem of
this telenovela is that
the women live, breathe
and exist for their
relationships, the rest
is just scenography,"
said Moya, the head of
the gender and
communications
department at the "José
Martí" International
Institute of Journalism
in Havana, and the
director of the state
Editorial de la Mujer
(Women’s Publishing
House).
"The name of the
telenovela makes that
clear. The plot is
overly focused on
‘passion’ and the
concept of love is
closely linked to
possession, control and
complementarity, rather
than depicted as an
opportunity for pleasure
and affection shared by
two independent human
beings," she told IPS.
At the same time, "the
rich diversity of
characters that you see
in the telenovela’s
opening credits sequence
gives an impression of a
more diverse cast than
the middle and
upper-middle class
families that the
programme’s main
conflicts revolve
around."
Whatever the case,
academics like González
Pagés are studying the
way telenovelas are
sparking necessary
debate on social issues
in Cuba.
That occurred with the
Cuban telenovela "La
cara oculta de la luna"
(The Dark Side of the
Moon), which addressed
questions like AIDS and
bisexuality, and could
happen again in the case
of Passionate Women.
As with all Cuban
telenovelas, the
episodes are seen by
most Cubans and become
such frequent subjects
of conversation in the
market or on the bus
that at times it is hard
to understand certain
comments or jokes for
those who aren't
up-to-date on the lives
of each of the
programme’s characters.
"In Cuba, if you want to
know what people are
talking about, you have
to watch the telenovela.
You can even walk by a
corner and a guy calls
you the name of one of
the characters. If
you’re not up on what’s
going on, you won’t know
if they’re insulting you
or giving you the nicest
compliment in the
world," Georgina
Torriente, a journalist
who works with a local
radio station, told IPS.
Unlike in other
countries where cable TV
stations broadcast
telenovelas all day
long, Cubans only have
one nightly episode,
with the latest Cuban
serial alternating
nights with a foreign
programme, usually
Brazilian.
Some provincial stations
show telenovelas at
other times of the day,
and air reruns of
popular serials late at
night. "People are loyal
to the programmes, and
tend to plan activities
around them," said
Torriente.
"Many academics who have
studied the phenomenon
of telenovelas say
viewers establish a
dialogue between what
they watch on TV and
what they experience in
their daily lives, and
in that sense, tackling
issues like the ones
that are appearing now
can help generate debate
and discussion within
the family," said Moya.
González Pagés said that
when it comes to
encouraging debate on
questions of equality,
"any forum is
legitimate, even
telenovelas."
"Although this is a
country with excellent
laws that protect women
in their relationships,
there are still many
deeply rooted
patriarchal customs.
These serials serve as
spaces for bringing up
subjects like violence,
lesbian sexuality,
alcoholism and others
that we don't know how
to approach otherwise,"
said the professor.
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