This is a class blog run by Dr. Carolina Acosta-Alzuru and her students in the First Year Odyssey Seminar "More than Melodramas: Telenovelas"

Telenovelas-FYOS-2014

Telenovelas-FYOS-2014

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

The Gift of Freedom Of Speech

After learning about President Hugo Chavez's unrealistic restrictions thrust upon Venezuela's telenovelas, I cannot find the words to express how thankful I am to live in a country that allows its citizens to have freedom of speech and more importantly freedom of opinion. The telenovela within itself should be allowed to express a true picture of the feelings, struggles, and lives of people of all countries. It should be allowed to portray the human condition without such harsh restrictions on the content of the telenovela. Whether or not people choose to accept it, the countries/regions/areas in which people live affects who they are, their actions, their thoughts, and their livelihood. If telenovelas are not allowed to reflect these opinions, how are they ever to be successful?
People, people's feelings, people's opinions, people's conditions are what allow telenovelas to be entertaining and even draw the attention of viewers. If said things are not allowed to be related to what is happening and where they are, than what is the true point of a telenovela?

5 comments:

  1. I agree with you. I also know that it is very difficult for writers and directors to make a living if they are in this industry so if this (making telenovelas) is the only thing they know how to do then most people put in their position would compromise their beliefs because of the need to make money and provide for their loved ones. I completely understand where you are coming from though.

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  2. Freedom unfortunately is something that is occasionally taken for granted. I completely agree with you that we live in a country that allows citizens freedom of speech and opinions. It is unfortunately that they put so many restrictions on the telenovelas because these restrictions are prohibiting the country to grow socially. For instance, they rarely have telenovelas that have homosexual characters because they are afraid that the audience and viewers will reject the telenovela. The world is growing and developing as well as the way society views people that stand for gay rights and women's rights. Hopefully Venezuela will be able to further grow and develop in the future, eliminating these social stereotypes.

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  3. This is SO true. I bet it's hard for the production crew to find ways to film AROUND the areas the government tries so hard to conceal. It's ridiculous how far the government would go to cover up the fact that there are parts of the country they ignore and leave out in the dust. It's sad how telenovelas must mold to a certain shape just to satisfy a bunch of narcissists that can't provide for their country.

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  4. I too am very grateful to live in a country where there is freedom of speech. I cannot imagine what it must be like to be censored so harshly by the government, and I have utmost respect for those in the industry that attempted to work around the censorship mandate to try and get their message across.

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  5. Exactly. There would be no point in a telenovela if the people can't relate to it on some level. Telenovelas were meant to be emotional and authentic...something that could touch the viewer in some way. The government needs to leave that relationship alone. These shows give the people something to talk about. People are brought together by telenovelas. The government should not be able to break that up. They're not letting the people live if they kill the telenovela.

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