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Made in Miami: New Telenovelas Tackle Expatriate Life in the U.S.
By Elena Shore, New America Media
SAN FRANCISCO–As Congress debates the future of illegal immigration,
many Latinos are glued to the day-to-day dramas of undocumented
immigrants that unfold on Spanish TV. They connect to telenovelas
(soap operas) made in the United States that depict the conflicting
and sometimes unsavory lives of undocumented immigrants.
Telemundo's new novela, Tierra de Pasiones (Land of Passions),
centers on two families who own rival wineries. Tierra touches on
the difficulties of life as an undocumented immigrant and the abuses
farmworkers suffer, including violence against women. As the show
progresses, the two protagonists Valeria San Román (Gabriela Spanic)
and Francisco Contreras (Saúl Lisazo) become advocates for the
rights of undocumented immigrants working in their families'
vineyards.
Socorro Hernández, who was born in Managua, Nicaragua, and lives in
Daly City, south of San Francisco, watches the novela every night,
and likes the show for its drama and intrigue.
But Hernández says it also sends an important message about
immigrants' rights. "I love the show because it takes place in the
countryside and it has a message about bosses who abuse their
workers," she says, "while the main character defends them and
supports them."
This is one of the first times popular media has portrayed the lives
of farm workers, a community that has long been invisible, according
to Rose Castillo Guilbault, author of the new book "Farmworker's
Daughter: Growing Up Mexican in America."
The farm worker story is very old, says Guilbault. It goes back to
the days of the Bracero Program (1942-1964), a U.S.-Mexico program
that brought thousands of Mexican farm workers to the United States
to work for three-month periods. Workers have waited over 40 years
to be repaid the 10 percent of their salaries originally retained by
the Mexican government.
Their stories remain absent from popular culture, Guilbault says.
"You read about the politics of it but you never hear about farm
workers as people," she says.
These telenovelas also incorporate hot issues in the lives of the
undocumented into the plot lines, educating their audiences.
"El Alma Herida" (The Wounded Soul), tells two parallel stories
about family members who get separated when they try to cross the
U.S.-Mexico border illegally. During the time "El Alma Herida" was
being filmed, President Bush gave his 2004 State of the Union
address about the need for a legal guest worker program. The
telenovela integrated the speech into the novela's plotline, says
Telemundo spokesperson Elizabeth Sanjenis. "The characters in the
show were watching the speech on TV," she says, "and they explained
it in layman's terms."
Other novelas warn of the way illegal immigrants can be conned: "Prisionera"
(Prisoner) is about an illegal immigrant who gets fooled by the
legal system; and in "Ley del Silencio" (Law of Silence), a woman
offers to marry an illegal immigrant for money.
These shows reflect a new wave of Spanish-language serials being
produced for a U.S. audience and shot in the United States. Tierra
de Pasiones is filmed on a set in Homestead, Fla., where producers
built a small vineyard.
In order to compete with Univision, the top-ranked Spanish-language
broadcaster in the United States, Telemundo has produced all
original novelas since August, 2004, says Sanjenis. Univision buys
its soaps from Mexican broadcaster Televisa.
"Our novelas speak to, reflect, inspire and empower Latinos in the
U.S.," Sanjenis says. Other novelas, she says, are produced for
local markets in Latin America. For example, Venezuelan-produced
novelas are produced for Venezuelans, she says.
The results so far have been positive. Telemundo has seen eight
months of continuous growth since April 2005, says Sanjenis.
Graciela Martinez, director of Proyecto Campesino (Farm Labor
Program) in Visalia, Calif., a project of the American Friends'
Service Committee, warns, however, that novelas don't present a
realistic picture of life as a farm worker.
"Novelas are really Hollywoodized," she says. "They have a tendency
to overdramatize and be tearjerkers."
Some of the abuse portrayed in novelas reflects the reality of
immigrants' experiences. But the danger of novelas that dramatize
these abuses, says Martinez, is that they often make people feel
like victims. "It may create awareness but it also creates bad
feelings," she says. "We don't want people to look at us as
victims."
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