The telenovela and its influences on collective views of history
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The telenovela has its origins in a type of radio show called a radionovela, used in Latin America in the early 20th century to entertain factory workers. At the time, protests demanding better wages and working conditions were widespread. German-Latina researcher Hannah Müssemann explains that to entice workers back to their jobs each day, someone came up with the idea to “tell a story but put in different episodes,” she says. “If they wanted to hear the entire story, they would have to go back to work in the factories, one of the few places where there was a radio.”
Müssemann sat down with Hola Cultura to discuss this distinctly Latin-American phenomenon that got its start in cigar and textile factories a century ago. She researches the social impact of telenovelas at Geschichtsvermittlung durch Unterhaltungsmedien in Lateinamerika Labor für Erinnerungsforschung und digitale Methoden (History Transfer through Entertainment Media in Latin America Laboratory for Memory and Digital Media Research), also known as GUMELAB, a cooperative research group based in Berlin and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Beyond its historical and cultural significance, she says the telenovela plays an important role in Latinx society today. GUMELAB studies how people’s memories and perceptions are shaped by the ways telenovelas portray Latin American history both in their home countries and abroad.
Müssemann hopes the project will highlight the importance of everyday media.
“Many people think telenovalas are only watched by poorer communities or are just for women, but at the end of the day, telenovelas are consumed en-masse by Latin-American households and are a vitally important cultural phenomenon,” says Müssemann, pictured right in a screenshot from our online interview.
Researchers often overlook minority media, says Müssemann, who works to rectify this oversight through her investigation of the influence of telenovelas on memory, historical perception and politics. Müssemann explains the project and the researchers’ preliminary findings in depth below.
Please tell us more about what a telenovela is and its origins.
The telenovela is always 120 episodes. Unlike the soap opera, it has an end. In the beginning, there is a problem that causes the characters to go to action. Usually, someone falls in love, and in the end, the problem is solved. There is also generally at least half a year between seasons.
The workers’ protests and the radionovela, I would say, were the beginning of the telenovela. Then, when TVs became more widely available, people would go to a coffee shop or restaurant with their family to watch on the store’s TV. So, the entire family would sit there once a day or once a week.
Is it still a widely consumed form of media today?
Yes. For example, in Brazil, after an episode airs, everybody talks about it the next day. In Brazil, you can even date when someone was born because all the babies of that year will be named after the main protagonists of the most popular telenovela of that time.
How did GUMELAB structure the study you are working on?
Right now, we are analyzing data from Chile and Colombia. We are doing this through two case studies. Eventually, we will be doing research in Brazil if the project continues to receive funding.
Structuring this study was complicated because there are so many interdisciplinary approaches necessary to understand the impact of telenovelas. There is a lot of history, politics, conflict studies, memory studies, cultural and literary studies and digital humanities because we are trying to figure out: How do we analyze [the] reception of telenovelas? How can we understand what people are thinking? To mediate this complexity, we have decided to work with digital methods. So, we analyze comments on social media, primarily Twitter and YouTube. We use algorithms that monitor social media for data, comments [and] posts related to telenovelas. We also do interviews in Chile and Colombia. I’m doing interviews within the Latinx community in the U.S. right now to see if the reception of telenovelas changes when people are not in their [home] countries anymore.
What kinds of telenovelas, specifically, are you looking at?
We are studying telenovelas that we call telenovela de memoria. Telenovelas de memoria are documenting a recent past. They often include real names of people or modified names that a viewer could easily identify as a real person and images from historical archives and real places. The producer usually will have a specific, verbalized goal to be part of historical memory. The idea of the recent past is important because most people can remember the time that is taking place in the show, and even if it is not precisely their lived time, viewers know about the events from their parents or grandparents. So, our study is not about the historical telenovelas that would be about independence movements or other significant historical events long in the past, but rather, telenovelas de memoria are based on events that happened during the lifetime of most viewers so that the individual memory of the viewer can connect to the larger memories being shown within the program.
What do you see as telenovelas’ role regarding memory?
Oftentime, people have a loose individual memory; most people have a lot of them. Not everyone remembers exactly the same things even if they all witnessed or lived through a single event. What happens with telenovelas is that the viewer will see one representation of the past. That representation will contain a lot of collective memories.
Collective memory is something that most people in a specific population can remember. For example, it could be 9/11, or it could be the beginning of COVID. Everybody remembers when that event occurred and what they were doing when it happened. What’s interesting is when the television picks up this narration, people see how they can fit that larger narrative into their own individual memory. It creates a dialogue or conflict. People have to think, “OK, can I identify with this portrayal?, or do I feel like no, it wasn’t like that.” Some conflict or discourse is happening in their brain logistically about the actual events and on an emotional level as well. That is why telenovelas de memoria are an interactive bridge, a link, that locates individual memories within the greater historical narrative.
What do you see happening because of this link?
We are still at the beginning of the project, so I can’t say the conclusive results. For now, we see that telenovelas influence the understanding of history and, ultimately, the political attitudes in the present. One way we see this happening is in an opening of [a] dialogue about the past. Even if the actual narrative of the telenovela de memoria is fiction, viewers can identify with the emotions, the characters, the people the story represents. Viewers will talk about things they never would have before. For example, in Chile, when viewers watched a telenovela about their countries’ past conflicts, the older generations who rarely discussed the experiences of that time, mainly due to fear and association with bad experiences, began to speak about their lived past. The grandfather talked with the son about his history. The telenovela can be a spokesperson for the past.
If the telenovela shapes or calls forth the viewers’ past, do you see telenovelas also shaping viewers’ realities?
Yes, yes, it does shape viewers’ realities. I know that sounds like a big claim. When we first conceptualized the project, I wasn’t quite sure of it myself, but everything is connected. If we analyze our present, it tells us something about the past. In Chile, for example, there were social protests in 2019, and people in Chile turned to a telenovela that focused on protests further in the past and said, “OK, we need to watch this telenovela again, because we have problems here, we have social protests. There is something in our past we haven’t talked about enough.” If you are aware of your past, it will shape your present. There is a lot of power in how the past is represented and what people think of the past. We can see this happening with Netflix taking on series like “Narcos.” If Netflix talks about a narrative, that narrative appears everywhere. Even if people don’t watch the show, the algorithm recommends it, so people will see previews and have an opinion anyhow.
With there being so much power in how the past is represented, are there sometimes problems with how directors or producers choose to categorize the past?
The narratives they choose are not always the right ones, or I feel like they will include only one narrow perspective. Everyone will reproduce that one perspective, even subconsciously. Even if a viewer disagrees with how the story is represented, it can still shape their reality and perceptions. This can be especially true if people who are not a part of that collective memory watch the show.
For example, with “Narcos,” many people from Colombia were really angry because they felt it didn’t properly tell the story of the Colombian past. They felt there was a lot of sensibility missing. The actor isn’t Colombian. They don’t understand why Netflix took up this one particular history. But then, when you talk with people who aren’t from Colombia, they’re like, “Wow, I finally understand. Pablo Escobar, he was a family man. Maybe he was misunderstood.” There are a lot of details that don’t have historical sources. There can be false political assumptions as well. People will say, “Colombia had this problem with drugs because they didn’t have a Pinochet.” These opinions are quite harsh. Not everybody is reflecting on what they see. They think just because they saw one narrative on television and everybody is talking about it, it must be true.
But I think the discussion is not about just television; it’s also about social media right now. What are the things that we talk about? How do we get information? Does that information have proof? It’s all about the discussion of critical media consumption. I think cable television and Netflix are just a few actors, but the problem is on a bigger scale.
Do you think Latinx people or non-Latinx people outside of Colombia or outside of these other countries watching telenovelas are more susceptible to having false perceptions of the past?
I’m not sure. I think it depends on the person and the context. For example, I met a lot of young Mexicans who were around 19 years old, and they grew up in New York. I talked to them about “Narcos: Mexico,” and they told me, “Yeah, I like ‘Narcos’ because it’s a lot of actors, a lot of thrills.” I asked them, “Oh, but did you know anything about Mexican history before?” They said, “No, no.” One of the teenagers said, “My dad didn’t like that I watched telenovelas because he feels like I’m getting wrong values because there are a lot of narco-novelas.”
These narcotics-focused novelas seem to say that dealing drugs is easy. They perpetuate the narrative that dealing drugs will get you a lot of money, a lot of girls. You’ll drive a nice car. There is a lot of sensationalizing.
Many parents don’t really like this kind of telenovela because they’re scared about the values being shown. Their children, however, often don’t really understand the actual reality of what’s being portrayed because they haven’t grown up there. They don’t understand the dangers.
There seems to be an element of identity as well.
Sometimes, viewers in different countries, for example, might have grown up in the U.S. and feel removed from the problem. They [might] feel they are only U.S. citizens, but then, suddenly something is presented to them — directly in their faces — and shows them, OK, that was my country or the country of my parents. So, I think, yes, telenovelas move a lot [of people’s feelings] about identity. They can change the stuff inside a person. I don’t know if this change is hazardous for them. It could also be a chance to help understand their own identity or understand different cultures and historical approaches. I think it’s essential to put the telenovelas in context and to talk about the narratives: Who did what and why? Also, to speak with people who lived in the time and trust their representations. It’s important not to take what is on TV for granted. Just because it’s on Netflix does not mean it’s true. Believing blindly is the dangerous part, not just for Latinx people but for everyone.
A large portion of your research is also thinking about telenovelas’ effect on politics. What effects do you think telenovelas have on people’s political views or perception of a political past?
I think people’s political perceptions are tied to collective memory. I am thinking about what we talk about in the political world and how we talk about it. For example, many Germans didn’t know about the 1973 Chilean coup and the cult “Colonia Dignidad” until there was a movie with Emma Watson about the Colonia. The film is a love story: Emma Watson falls for a morally gray German. The movie covers the topic of Colonia, and, suddenly, everybody was talking about it. Even the German Parliament started a discussion over the issues presented in the movie. Television and movies, mainly because they are widely viewed, affect politics. Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse, but there is an effect.
I was also reading on your website that many telenovelas begin with a woman in distress. How are women generally portrayed in these telenovelas? What could the effects of this portrayal be?
That’s a really interesting question because I’m doing my Ph.D. on a similar project, and that’s something that I want to analyze. I want to see if men and women have a different reception of telenovelas. I think a classical telenovela is like a fairy tale. Typically, there’s a girl — maybe she’s poor — and she falls in love with a handsome, rich boy, and then, suddenly, everything is great. Normally, the mother of the rich, attractive boy would be the antagonist and try to prevent the two from getting together. The newer telenovelas change this narrative. In one Colombian telenovela, “Betty La Fea,” the main character is a woman, but she isn’t beautiful. Even though the main character isn’t beautiful, people loved her. The show was successful even though she wasn’t the prototype of what a Colombian woman should look like. The telenovela asserts the importance of inner values. It’s about what you can accomplish in your life. What can you reach for? It was an interesting switch.
It is possible to show women that they hold more value than just their beauty. That life is not just walking along the street, and suddenly your prince charming appears, and all your problems will disappear. I think telenovelas can be empowering. That’s what we’re seeing right now happening with newer telenovelas: much more female empowerment.
On your website, I saw that the term “peace-building processes” was mentioned to describe what GUMELAB’s study could be used for. Can you explain what peace-building processes means in this context?
One way we’re thinking about peace-building processes is how these programs can spark a dialogue. Maybe people can identify with a character on television even if they have a different political attitude. Perhaps the history within the shows can start conversations that might otherwise be neglected. Beyond the individual, I think peace-building processes could expand to an academic setting. Academics oftentime don’t take television seriously. Even now, we will get people who will give us weird looks when we tell them we are studying television. But television is important. You have to talk about the daily mediums that people see. You have to analyze platforms like Netflix critically. The peace-building process won’t be easy, but television and telenovelas do have a meaningful role to play in creating dialogue, and academics must learn to acknowledge the real and often positive effects of these everyday mediums.
In thinking of other potential positive effects of researching telenovelas, do you think that this study can be used to potentially influence commercial entertainment policy or come up with some new guidelines that could help people creating these shows try to format narratives more holistically?
Yes, it’s actually one of the reasons we started this project. We are trying to get this project to a point where we can see actual world results coming from what we’ve learned. It’s so important to make sure to tell a history in a way that is careful with the people involved and in a way that is cognizant of the perspective and approach it’s taking. One way could be to create a manual for producers. We could try to reach out to the shows’ producers with our data and make sure they are creating good, well-researched content. Even if shows are well researched, directors are the people that make the final decisions. Directors are the people responsible for understanding the possible effects of their show. I think we need to get to a point where we talk about the impact of TV and telenovelas. We can only make improvements through conversations and through people realizing that telenovelas and TV are important.
Are there any telenovelas right now that are doing a good job of being accurate, historical and careful with their narratives?
Yes, I just watched one. I was so happy that I could finally watch it because it’s not available in Germany. The show is on Netflix, and it’s called “Wild District.” It’s a Colombian series about an ex-guerillo that reenters society. The ex-guerillo was a child soldier — he only knows the life of a soldier — and so, is lost when he rejoins regular society. It’s about his personal life, but it’s also about corruption and classism. It asks the question: How are we going to make peace-building processes? How can we reintroduce people into society after experiencing violent, traumatic situations? I don’t believe this character existed, but many real people share his attitude and come from similar situations.
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If you are interested in following along with Müssemann or want to get involved with her research follow @_gumelab on instagram and twitter or check out their website at https://www.gumelab.net/en/index.htm.
—Connie Moore
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