Mexico
and Brazil against the world
Due
to the influences of the Mexican and Brazilian
model on the telenovelas produced in the rest
of the world, and to the temptation of replacing
on the other hand one model for the other,
it is necessary to know the essence of both
of them first.
Mexican and Brazilian telenovelas are brilliant
on themselves and have had a great evolution
together with the development of their own
local industry. But it is definitely a product
that is not only different but also opposed.
And at the same time productions from every
Latin American country and the rest of the
world are totally distinct.
Brazilian classics are based on literature
works either from their own country or classic
literature. While the great Mexican melodrama
comes mainly from the Cuban radionovelas which
has it origin in the newspaper serials and
their mother creators Caridad Bravo
Adams, Iris Dávila,
Inés Rodena and Delia Fiallo.
These two origins of Latin American melodrama
have internal dynamics of a very well settled
cultural identity. Their variations in the
genre appear in two narrative origins very
different from each other and in multiple
versions both of them.
In the Mexican style, heartbreaking, tragic
and social stories are predominant, for which
they use basic, essential emotions and feelings,
leaving out any dramatic space for ambiguity
and historical complexity.
In the Brazilian style, in 1968 with the telenovela
Beto Rockefeller, a new matrix was
born, and without breaking completely with
the melodramatic scheme it incorporates a
realism that allows “everyday life”
and the encounter of the genre with the country.
Both of them are the secret of success. Mexico,
since the success of Los ricos también
lloran or Cuna de lobos, and
Brazil with La esclava Isaura or
Roque Santeiro. From these two currents
two new strong ones developed in a conclusive
way: Venezuela with Cristal and Kassandra,
and Colombia with Café con aroma
de mujer and Betty la fea. In
this way, and following Televisa’s model,
with a classic line Venezuela emerges, and
following Brazil’s, Colombia. Four countries
that spread their own structures and dynamics,
and became schools for the world.
