Telenovelas and Melodrama in Latin America

Telenovelas are a television genre developed and produced originally in Latin America since the 1950s. Now they serve as one of the largest media exports of countries such as Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, circulating widely within Latin America as well as around the world. Telenovelas are often compared to the US soap opera and do boast some common characteristics, such as their reliance on the melodramatic mode. However, telenovela production, structure, and programming differ greatly from that of soap operas, with the most-notable differences being their “closed” structure—narratives generally last between six and fifteen months and, in most countries, are programmed nightly—and their popularity across demographic groups, with many telenovelas being tailored for the whole family. While research in the field began in the 1970s, scholars agree that it was not until the effects and power of media globalization began to be seen in the 1980s that telenovela scholarship gathered traction. Early research grappled with the popularity and influence of telenovelas, with studies about the history and structure of the genre, the conditions of melodrama, and the context of national television industrial formation. Early debates deliberated over the telenovela’s role—along with television in general—in pacifying audiences and participating in mass media imperial projects; telenovela exportation success required the reassessment of these theories of culture, given Latin America’s growing role as a producer of media flow. Other general areas of inquiry include nuanced discussions of the genre and its persistence, studies of its production and consumption in local conditions, and analyses of particular telenovelas. Telenovela scholars have placed their work in direct and fruitful conversation with scholars in other countries studying serial melodramas, particularly as telenovelas have grown into a significant global export. Attending to the transnational context of media flow and consumption has lead to less concern about imperialism’s effects on Latin American audiences and more-extensive theoretical work on the relationship between telenovelas to formations of Latin American modernity. Some scholars make the case that telenovelas’ Latin American success has to do with the role that melodrama plays in facilitating the negotiation of Latin American modernity. Since the late 1990s, scholarship has continued apace in all the major areas of television studies: production, reception, the text and its thematic and narrative meanings, and the relationship between telenovelas and their sociohistorical context. The organization of this article reflects these research areas. Newer developments in the field include the growth of telenovela production in the United States (telenovela programming and viewership has a longer history) and the loss of markets for telenovelas due to the success of Turkish dizis and the rise of over-the-top (OTT) platforms. More scholarship is needed in these areas.