ENDS AND BEGINNINGS: TORRENTE AND ¿VIEJA YO?

The last two weeks have been so hectic for me that I haven't been able to write in my blog(s). Meanwhile, in Venezuela  Venevisión broadcast the final episode of Torrente, which was substituted in the 9 p.m. slot by ¿Vieja Yo? These telenovelas are polar opposites in the continuum: melodrama<---->humor.

On the melodrama side is Torrente, a pretty predictable telenovela that suffered from a lack of humor (in this sense, the characters played by Gioia Arismendi and Eduardo Orozco were the exception that saved the telenovela from being unbearably dramatic). In my opinion, Torrente's best qualities were: 1) The production quality of all sequences taped (or seemingly taped) in the  beautiful and wild area of la Gran Sabana. 2) The quality of the directorial work which never tapered. 3) The presence of some cast members who were able to take their characters beyond the unidimensional and simplistic way in which they were written.

Regarding the last point, I should underscore again (I already mentioned it in a previous post) Iván Tamayo's excellent performance as  Roque/Bayardo Santa Cruz, the antagonist. His work was so good that it forced one of the few interesting and atypical elements in a story pretty typical and average: that we didn't know until the last episode whether the protagonist Ana Julia would end up with him or with Reinaldo, the official protagonist. This unresolved situation afforded the final episode very high ratings (the episode averaged a rating of 17.5 and a 62.1% share, pretty high numbers even in an environment without  RCTV). And in that final episode writers had to write/include a video clip of memory bits of the antagonist's love story with the protagonist and a short monologue by him just before the protagonists' final scenes (See the following video from 6:33 on). 

Torrente's final episode reinforced the old lesson: it's important to have a question/dramatic knot to be resolved in the last episode. On the other hand, Ana Julia's choice wasn't believable to me. Even though the script tried its best to push her back to Reinaldo, her story and chemistry with Roque/Bayardo were more intense, longer and believable. 

¿Vieja Yo? comes from the distinguished pen of Mónica Montañés. I want to preface my brief analysis with a caveat that limits my point of view: I've only been able to watch the first four episodes. 

I place this telenovela in the humor side of the continuum. It has a clear thesis: there is no due date to fulfill our dreams and most of the times we are our worst enemies. (See in the following video the first sequences in the telenovela. In particular where the protagonist is on top of the mattress. Pay attention to her words.)

I like telenovelas with a thesis. I believe a thesis gives a telenovela depth, structure and a reason (beyond television's commercial requirements). I admire the design of all the sets that make the department store where most of the action happens in ¿Vieja Yo?. Once again, Carmelina De Jacovo shows that she is a master at set design. The cast has plenty of talent and presence. There are themes that are in many telenovelas, like infidelity. But, there are also topics that need continuous examination. For instance: domestic violence. But, above all, this telenovela is centered on Margot, the over-50 protagonist conceptualized and written for actor Mimí Lazo. The antagonist, Estefanía, is well delineated in the script: ambitious, without scruples and clueless as to how to be the rival of a woman Margot's age and with her characteristics.  I don't like, however, Marjorie De Sousa's interpretation. Her Estefanía is cartoonish. This has the unfortunate consequence of making the main triangle akin to a cartoon too. Something not desirable in a telenovela. 

And even though I know well that humor is a key ingredient in Venezuelan telenovelas and functions as the enzyme that allows the important digestion of critical sociocultural issues like the ones present in this telenovela, I felt that in the first four episodes romance was sacrificed for humor's sake. And romance is a defining element of telenovelas. While I was watching the fourth episode, I asked myself: Is there anyone here IN LOVE? I'm sure there is, but it isn't evident in the first four episodes, which are characterized by layered misunderstandings, that give us a feeling similar to that of a sitcom.

I will continue watching, of course. Mónica Montañés is a writer I believe in. She's talented, smart, knowledgeable of the paradoxes, challenges and opportunities that characterize Venezuelan women, and she has something important to say. 

The audience, who always has the last word, has also something to say: where do they locate their preferences regarding telenovelas in these two axes:

melodrama<---->humor  

romance<---->humor .

WRITERS WHO HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY

In my recent trip to Venezuela, I conducted many interviews with people who work in telenovelas in both networks, RCTV and Venevisión. I also had the opportunity to visit the set of telenovela Torrente. I'm still digesting and analyzing my field notes and interview transcripts. In this blog entry, I comment on a contrast I found that is particularly enlightening. The contrast is between two telenovelas made in Venevisión: Torrente, currently on the air, and Vieja Yo?, which is already in its production phase and scheduled for broadcast very soon.

In the set of Torrente I found a group of, (mostly young), actors and director Claudio Callao. They're working as best as they possibly can with a script that is generally predictable, occasionally  contradictory and characterized by an exaggerated melodramatic tone. Network Venevisión, determined to produce telenovelas that sell well in the international market, offers us in Torrente a catalog of storylines we have seen so many times, we've memorized them. The production values, however, are much better than the script. I admired director Callao as I watched his struggle to produce a mise-en-scene with the realism and impact the script sorely lacks. I was also impressed with some of the actors who have been working their characters with dedication, taking them beyond the unclear outline barely depicted in the 40 pages that constitute each episode. I can't avoid asking myself: What is Torrente's thesis? Does it have a thesis? What do the writers want to say? 

The contrasting experience was my conversation with writer Mónica Montañés about her new telenovela La Vieja Esa (title that Venevisión discarded, favoring Vieja Yo?). This writer has a clear thesis behind the story she's going to tell. Many people think that writers just say "now I'm going to write the love story between a woman and a younger man." Well, not really. When a writer has a thesis, he or she has something to say. And that gives the story support, sustenance and consistency. It also draws clearly the characters. (Something that good actors appreciate and enjoy). When there's a thesis, the audience finds a truth immersed in the dream that every telenovela is. And that truth faces us and hooks us too. That's the difference between telenovelas like  Torrente and those that are conceptualized like Vieja Yo?

Some will undoubtedly say that Torrente will fare better than Vieja Yo? in the international market. We'll have to wait and see. But if that proves to be the case, there will be people who will interpret it as proof that the international audience is only interested in the same old story. Personally, I don't think so. I do think, however, that there are vested interests in selling only the same story over and over again. And that's different. 

WHEN ACTING TALENT ELEVATES THE ANTAGONIST

This entry will be relatively short. I'm finishing Maymester, a semester in three weeks, and preparing a research trip to Caracas. Hence, I don't have a lot of time to write and this entry will be unavoidably superficial. 

Sometimes an actor, playing an antagonist role is so good, that he or she breaks the central  code of the telenovela genre, that protagonists have a happy ending. These are actors who manage to make the audience feel that it's them who should have a happy ending. I refer here to cases in which the actor, using her/his talent goes beyond the nuances that the script may have and garner the audience's preferences. Here are two current cases from Venezuelan telenovelas: 

Nohely Arteaga as Imperio Laya in Toda una Dama

This telenovela is a remake of Señora originally written by José Ignacio Cabrujas. Imperio is, without a doubt, a character that is well conceptualized and written. But, we can't deny either that Nohely Arteaga has elevated this role in such a way that there are audience members who prefer her to the protagonist,  Valeria (Cristina Dieckmann), her own daughter in the telenovela. In this case, the actor manages to elicit justification from the audience's side regarding the character's past behavior.  (See 3:31 and 7:09 in this video)

Iván Tamayo as Bayardo Santa Cruz in Torrente

In this case, the actor rises over an extremely predictable and slow script that is generally weak in character design. Tamayo builds a credible character and establishes a breathtaking "chemistry" with protagonist Ana Julia (Maritza Bustamante) (See the beginning of the video and 5:03).

TORRENTE: THE EVOLUTION OF PRODUCTION AND THE INVOLUTION OF THE TEXT

On April 2,  Venevisión premiered its new telenovela, Torrente, written by Benilde Alvarez and Neida Padilla. The press wrote extensively about the first episode (El Universal, El Nacional, Ultimas Noticias, El Mundo), highlighting the beauty and proliferation of exterior shots in Venezuela's Gran Sabana region, and the central plot of surrogate motherhood.

Torrente is a change from the style of telenovelas broadcast in Venevisión. Some press reports have defined it as a return to the rosa style (see, for example,  El Nacional). Personally, I believe that we're facing an involution of the text (script+incidental music), that contrasts with the undeniable technical and directorial advances that allow the extraordinary display of natural beauty that we see in Torrente:



and the mise-en-scene of sequences like the airplane accident depicted in the following videos (10:30 in the first video and the beginning seconds of the second video):

To be specific, when I say there's an involution of the text, I'm not talking about the theme that underpins the central conflict: surrogate motherhood. This is a contemporary and controversial topic that is perfect for a telenovela. (The topic is so current that Newsweek recently dedicated  its cover story  to the topic. When I say involution, I refer to:

• The flat depiction of important characters (and their stereotypical interpretation). For instance, villain Cayo Gabaldón, interpreted by actor Félix Loreto.
  
• The inclusion of predictable and trite dialogues.
  
• The backwardness of certain dialogues:  "I'm an incomplete woman who was born with a useless womb", "We, women, need to have children. We were born for that", says the protagonist,  Ana Julia. Those words construct a woman that, even though she has a stable and loving relationship, professional success and beauty, has a microscopic self-esteem exclusively based on her ability to bear children.  It's an outdated depiction of women that denies our struggle for an identity that goes beyond being "so and so's mom" or "the wife of..."
  
• There are problems in the connection among scenes and in the handling of the mini-time elipses. The consequence is an irregular rhythm in the storytelling, and sequences that don't make sense. The source of the problem could be in the edition process. But, I think it's in the script's outline. Both the director and editor are trying to minimize this issue, without much success so far.
  
• The incidental music consists of excessively dramatic scores, utilized only to exaggerate the melodrama. The result reeks of telenovelas from decades past. 
  

All of these, coupled with the almost total absence of humor (the only semi-humorous element is the tone of the character Juancho Gabaldón, played by Eduardo Orozco), underpin my perception of  Torrente as an involution.

Having said this, it's still early in the game. The telenovela has the potential of building on many interesting dramatic knots.

I must say, however, that this isn't a good moment for the Venezuelan telenovela industry. With the forced transformation of RCTV into RCTV Internacional, and the changes in priorities of  Venevisión's top management (priority to the international market over the local one), we're beginning to see telenovelas whose best attributes lie on the technical aspects of production (much like the telenovelas produced in Miami). I think this is a loss for the genre because telenovelas are losing their ability to connect with the public not only through the love story, but also through well designed characters and situations that we both recognize and recognize ourselves in since they're ingredients or our dreams and realities. 

LA TREPADORA: BEAUTY V. TALENT AND THE PROBLEMS OF ADAPTING A CLASSIC

This week RCTV Internacional premiered La Trepadora, "a free adaptation" of Rómulo Gallegos's classic novel, written by Ricardo Hernández Anzola. As it's common with telenovela premieres, both the press (see for example, El Universal, Meridiano, El Nacional (video of the premiere to the press) and the audience (see for instance 1, 2, 3) have commented extensively the three episodes that have been broadcast at the time I write this post. 

Two topics seem to dominate these comments: actress Norkys Batista's presence (both her beauty and peformance) as Victoria Guanipa and the telenovela's script. 

The first topic brings to the fore the unresolved debate/issue of talent v. beauty in telenovelas. From its first episode, La Trepadora underscores physical beauty by capitalizing over and over again on Norkys Batista's perfect body and sex appeal. The end of episode one includes a nude Batista in a river. A sequence that's visually beautiful, but relatively empty of dramatic pertinence and dialogue consistency:

It should be noted that Venevisión's next telenovela, Torrente, which will air its first episode on April 2, has already presented its materials (first episode and official photographs) to the press. We can see Torrente's protagonist, Maritza Bustamante, showing a similar image to that of  Victoria Guanipa in La Trepadora.

And we already know that the first episode includes two "waterfall scenes." (Since Venevisión is on open TV and, therefore, subject to the Venezuelan restrictions of the Ley de Contenidos, those scenes will be less graphic than the river sequence in La Trepadora). We will have to see whether Torrente also gives undue priority to physical beauty over other aspects of the audiovisual text. 

Regarding La Trepadora's script, it's a pretty free version of Gallegos' classic. And a big contrast with the way José Ignacio Cabrujas adapted other novels by Gallegos for RCTV in the 1970s. Following is my translation of a text written by professor Alí E. Rondón that was published in 2006 in which he analyzed the key to Cabrujas' success adapting Gallegos for telenovelas: 

In any case, as José Ignacio Cabrujas demonstrates with his fraternal looks at the scripts of Doña Bárbara, Canaima y Sobre la misma tierra and in the performances and characterizations of Arturo Calderón (Juan Primito), Miguelángel Landa (Marcos Vargas) or Marina Baura (Cantaralia Barroso, Remota Montiel), what is imposed is the dramatic, even tragic, cloak of the half-real, half-fictitious anecdotes. Each and every one of the tv presences excel as the aggregation of the ethnic and individualized values that still resonate. Behind the masquerade of their mistakes and problems, they show us the secret streams of a soul that keeps on transforming until becoming the ethos that we, Venezuelans, are.  We are not talking, however, of the mere filming of what was written. Cabrujas has increased and enhanced the dialogues. At other times, he takes the bare bones outline of a situation, re-processes it and returns it to us with the nostalgia of those images and dialogues where we can breath the essence of the ouvre. In this journey, the writer has provided the script with much more than the weaknesses, smiles, disappointments, injustice, hate and love originally resolved in the narrative realm. He has dialogued with Gallegos' work.  He has been able to read in those texts the latent proposal that allows him to re-write the drama as he touches the essence of the I of every character.   (My emphasis, Alí E. Rondón (2006), Medio Siglo de Besos y Querellas, pp. 54-55).

And in this assertive analysis, Rondón gives us the key to the uncomfortable feeling some of us have regarding the script of  this modified  Trepadora.