De Nosotros, Con Amor

The infamous telenovela is a genre that
most Latinos grew up with, whether in
our countries of origin or the United
States with channels such as Univision or
Telemundo. It is a staple that has marked
our lives, as the memories of watching
novelas with our families highlight them
in our minds and give us a rose-tinted
vision of how they are. However, the
harsh reality is that nostalgia blinds us
to the unfortunate truths of telenovelas,
and how they are not the best media for
the Latinx community.
One of my favorite novelas that I
remember watching at a young age is
Teresa, and we all remember iconic
quotes like “Entre ser o no ser, yo soy”
and “Odio ser pobre, lo odio.” This novela
told the story of Teresa, a young lady
wanting to succeed and exit poverty
through whatever means possible, as
it engaged audiences with its longentailing
plot and continues to influence
Latinx generations. However, within
this Mexican novela, we have to look at
the main characters’ representation.
Angelique Boyer, the actress who played
Teresa, is herself French and grew up
in Mexico. Boyer is a white, light-eyed
woman in a country where the majority
of people, 53% according to a study
by the Latin American Public Opinion
Project at Vanderbilt University (LAPOP),
are of mixed-race origins. Sebastian
Rulli, who played the male protagonist,
is an Argentine man with a lighter
complexion and eurocentric features.
Looking outside just the origins of the
protagonists, we must look at the cast
of this and many other novelas, who
tend to be lighter-skinned people while
those who are of darker complexion are
relegated to either playing maids and
staff or villains. One example of this is in
Cuidado con el Ángel, where one of the
only Afro-Latinx characters portrays a
violent villain.
Mexico and Mexican-oriented content
falls behind other Latin American
countries such as Argentina, Brazil,
Chile, and Colombia, all who have more
socially forward content. Argentine
and Chilean television has featured gay
characters much earlier than Mexican
television. The Argentine telenovela
Verano del 98 had a kiss with two men
in a prime-time show in 1999, almost
twenty years before the first prime-time
Mexican show Papá a toda Madre would
in 2017. Colombian telenovelas have
given greater visibility to non-white and
mestizo people, so far as to have Afro-
Latinos being the protagonists of some
shows. One example is with La Mamá del
10, which features an Afro-Colombian
woman as the main protagonist. Not only
that, but the shows in these countries
tend to give deeper stories to these
characters, rather than simply portraying
them as stereotypes.
Highlighting Mexico’s problematic
reluctance to be socially forward, the
main Mexican production company,
Televisa, remade both Verano del 98 and
La Mamá del 10 but removed the gay
characters and Afro-Latina protagonists,
respectively.
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