COMING AND GOING, BEING CLOSE AND FAR AWAY

These days it's difficult for me to write in my blogs. I'm in Caracas doing fieldwork, trying to document this particular moment in the Venezuelan telenovela industry. It's a job I love to do, but it requires an immense amount of time and concentration. Additionally, this trip has included several media interviews about my book.

My reflection today is about what it means for me to get physically closer and farther away from Venezuela. Coming and going, being inside and outside, isn't easy. There are difficulties related to logistics (leave the semester for a few days, never have enough days in Venezuela), transitions to go through (from a U.S. college town to a Latin American megalopolis, from being among students and professors, to hanging out with actors, writers and producers), and its pain (I'm always missing something from one of my two cultural homes). But coming and going, getting closer and farther away, is a productive moment that allows me to fine tune my perspective about my object of study and understand it much better.

BEYOND CINDERELLA?

Thanks to the invitation of LACSA (Latin American and Caribbean Studies Association), I did a presentation in honor of Women's History Month titled: Beyond Cinderella: The Representation(s) of Women in Telenovelas.

Preparing this presentation challenged me. First, I never know how much information my audience already has about telenovelas. Second, the presentation should mix description and analysis.



I decided that the best way to explain the many Cinderellas that have populated telenovelas was to show examples. Therefore, I showed clips of famous telenovela Cinderellas: different versions of Simplemente María, La Zulianita, Marimar, etc. Later I showed some recent variations on the Cinderella theme: Todos Quieren con Marilyn and Juana La Virgen. I also commented on telenovela women who broke the Cinderella mold, such as the protagonists of El País de las Mujeres. Finally, I reflected about the possible reasons for the global success of Cinderellas.



The presentation was a gratifying experience. The room was full with members of the University community: students, faculty and staff members. I was asked interesting questions that centered on the enigma of the continuous success of telenovela Cinderellas around the world. This is an important question. Its answer isn't easy to pinpoint in a genre with as many paradoxes as the telenovela has.