BACK WITH A NEW LOOK

When this blog turned six months old, I made the resolution to change its visual look. It's taken me almost six more months to do it since it isn't easy for me to find time for such a task. Finally, it's done! (Hence my wide smile as I look at my computer's screen). And it was possible thanks to the amazing help of my friend dRAGOONS. If you can read Spanish, I recommend you visit his blog, Utópico Real, where you will get to know this bioanalysis student, who moderates the Internet message board TVVI, and who has a real talent for visual communication.

The change in the blog's look comes at the same time as I arrive back to Athens after two intense weeks of research in Caracas, where I documented the current state of the telenovela industry, ten months after the closing of RCTV and its transformation into RCTV Internacional. I still have much analysis to do, but the panorama isn't particularly sunny for actors, writers and the Venezuelan public. Both RCTV Internacional and Venevisión have shifted gears and now privilege the international market over the local one. This will probably mean more remakes of old telenovelas and more telenovelas that follow the traditional model of the telenovela rosa. It isn't a good time for creativity and talent. In addition, the work sources for actors have significantly dried up.

This trip also included several media interviews about my book Venezuela es una Telenovela. It's always both surreal and fascinating for me to talk about my book. Interviews usually center in either or both aspects of my research: telenovelas and Venezuela.

There was an element of serendipity in my visit to my birth city. Two events coincided with my stay. I've commented already about the first one: the premiere of Caramelo e Chocolate, the first telenovela broadcast by government network TVES.

The second event was the end of the production of Arroz Con Leche, a telenovela that's entering its final broadcast week. In all the years I've been studying telenovelas, I'd never been able to witness that moment in a telenovela's biography. Once again I was reminded of the importance of vantage point for the construction of our perceptions, and the immense distance that exists between what people "know" about a telenovela's production and what actually happens behind the heavy doors of every television studio and inside the network's boardrooms.


While I was in Caracas there was an episode of Arroz Con Leche that garnered 15 points of rating, a true feat...even in the current no-internal-competition environment. In this particular episode the character Tomás Chacón beats his wife Amanda. (We don't see him actually hitting her because such scenes are prohibited by the Venezuelan Ley de Contenidos). What does this peak in the ratings mean under these circumstances? Is it because there's a fascination with violence and/or drama? Or is it that Venezuelans can identify with and/or recognize this issue as one of the country's most pressing sociocultural problems? It's worth analyzing since those numbers and the content of that episode provide us with a trap door through which we can examine the social formation.

CARAMELO E CHOCOLATE

There's an interesting coincidence during my current stay in Caracas. Last Monday, TVES, the government network that stands on the spoils of the closing of RCTV, premiered its first telenovela Caramelo e Chocolate (Candy and Chocolate or Chocolate candybar). Written by Carlos Pérez, a writer who handles well humor and colloquial language, the telenovela's topic is racism in Venezuela. Ironically, RCTV had already tackled this issue in telenovela Negra Consentida without much success.

In Venezuela racism and class-ism are linked in such a way that they aren't easily differentiated. Both are evident in popular culture, daily conversations, jokes and in the disdainful expressions used in colloquial language when referring to people of darker skin. Racism in Venezuela also hides behind the permanent comparison with the manifestations of racism in the U.S.

For all these reasons I was very interested in watching the first episode of Caramelo e Chocolate, which was preceded by positive press critiques However, I must acknowledge that I couldn't see much of the telenovela's thesis in its first episode. Only a small glimpse in the first scene. The episode had more content related to the topic of esoteric beliefs than to racism. The writing did not surprise me in a positive way. It has very short scenes that don't allow the spectator to really "feel." (In telenovelas, the spectacle of emotions, feeling is very important). Transitions between scenes are underdeveloped, and the direction is a bit on and off.

Production also needs some fine tuning. There's a lot of background noise that needs to be cleaned up in post-production, and the music is not incidental but continuous; therefore, it doesn't add to the story.

There weren't any performances that captured my imagination. Most are average or frankly deficient. I will give it more time, but I must admit I'm quite disappointed.