Drugs, thugs, and divas : telenovelas and narco-dramas in Latin America / by O. Hugo Benavides.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Benavides, O. Hugo (Oswald Hugo), 1968-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Television soap operas--Latin America.

Television soap operas.

Radio soap operas--Latin America.

Radio soap operas.

Latin America.

Drugs in motion pictures.

Motion pictures--Latin America.

Motion pictures.

Physical Description:

x, 233 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2008.

Summary:

Soap opera speaks a universal language, presenting characters and plots that resonate far beyond the culture that creates them. Latin American soap operas-telenovelas-have found enthusiastic audiences throughout the Americas and Europe, as well as in Egypt, Russia, and China, while Mexican narcodramas have become highly popular among Latinos in the United States. In this first comprehensive analysis of telenovelas and narco-dramas, Hugo Benavides assesses the dynamic role of melodrama in creating meaningful cultural images to explain why these genres have become so successful while more elite cultural productions are declining in popularity.

Benavides offers close readings of the Colombian telenovelas Betty la fea (along with its Mexican and U.S. reincarnations La fea mas bella and Ugly Betty), Adrian esta de visita, and Pasion de gavilanes; the Brazilian historical telenovela Xica; and a variety of Mexican narco-drama films. Situating these melodramas within concrete historical developments in Latin America, he shows how telenovelas and narco-dramas serve to unite peoples of various countries and provide a voice of rebellion against often-oppressive governmental systems. Indeed, Benavides concludes that as one of the most effective and lucrative industries in Latin America, telenovelas and narcodramas play a key role in the ongoing reconfiguration of social identities and popular culture.

Contents:

1 Melodrama as Ambiguous Signifier: Latin American Telenovelas and Narco-Dramas 1

2 Seeing Xica and the Melodramatic Unveiling of Colonial Desire 25

3 Producing the Global West through Latin Tales of Seduction and Envy 46

4 Karen's Seduction: The Racial Politics of Appropriate Dinner Guests 67

5 A Mother's Wrath and the Complex Disjuncturing of Class 88

6 Being Narco: The Evolution of a Continental Sensibility 111

7 Saintly Figures and Icons: The Migration of a Continental Dream 13

8 La Reina del Sur: Gender, Racial, and National Contestations of Regional Identity 152

9 Sex, Drugs, and Cumbia: The Hybrid Nature of Culture 171

10 Conclusion: The Postcolonial Politics of Melodrama 191

Postscript: Ugly Betty 211.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [217]-227) and index.

ISBN:

9780292714502

0292714505

9780292717121

0292717121

OCLC:

123377324

Online:

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