Beyond the happy ending... re-viewing female citizenship within the Mexican telenovela industry

Download files
Access & Terms of Use
open access
Copyright: Lewkowicz, Eva Helen
Altmetric
Abstract
Upon the Mexican telenovela's recent fiftieth anniversary (1958-2008) and the purported changes to form and content throughout its television history, this thesis explores the perpetuation of an exclusionary representational schema at the heart of the telenovela narrative. Seemingly at odds with the privatised, ‘post-national’ nature of the contemporary industry, the continued appearance of nationalist ideologies regarding race and class — but specifically gender and sexuality — within these serialised love stories, is framed through the complex interface between history and industry. This analysis begins with a historical study of official nation-building policies and their manifestation within the culture industries. Tracing nation-building tropes to the Mexican telenovela, this thesis equates the fictional community onscreen with the ‘ideal imagined’ Mexican nation, making the telenovela a prime site of nation-construction within the twenty-first century. Here the narrative's happy ending’ (after an average 120 episodes) is read as a figurative representation of the ideal nation. The Manichaean characterisation inherent to the Mexican telenovela’s melodrama serves to construct an ‘ideal’ female ‘citizen’ within this community. Only those female values and behaviours in line with nationalist ideology are endorsed. Interviews with over twenty Mexican telenovela industry writers, producers, directors, scholars and critics conducted in 2007 and 2008 confirm this schema. Their description of production and consumption processes within this transnational commercial industry provide a comprehensive framework positing the cultural imaginary, the textual dynamics, the commercial imperatives of the industry and audience ‘tastes’ as factors contributing to this exclusionary narrative schema within the contemporary telenovela industry. The textual analysis of seven telenovelas considers how these factors perpetuate exclusionary nationalist discourses within both traditional telenovelas originating from complicit relations between the culture industries and the state, as well as those that purportedly ‘ruptured’ this schema. A detailed formula for nation-construction via tropes of female characterisation inherent to the romantic love story becomes apparent here. Yet in light of the apparent invincibility of this formula, this thesis considers how the industry's economic rationalism can facilitate the ‘rupture’ of the exclusionary narrative schema; through narrative extension of popular telenovelas, and non-romance oriented subgenres for niche markets. Particularly timely considering the Mexican telenovela's recent celebrations, this study considers the fate of such a rich popular-cultural form, in the context of a rapidly changing new media landscape.
Persistent link to this record
Link to Publisher Version
Link to Open Access Version
Additional Link
Author(s)
Lewkowicz, Eva Helen
Supervisor(s)
Langford, Michelle
Shaner, Scott
Creator(s)
Editor(s)
Translator(s)
Curator(s)
Designer(s)
Arranger(s)
Composer(s)
Recordist(s)
Conference Proceedings Editor(s)
Other Contributor(s)
Corporate/Industry Contributor(s)
Publication Year
2011
Resource Type
Thesis
Degree Type
PhD Doctorate
Files
download whole.pdf 1.01 MB Adobe Portable Document Format
Related dataset(s)