Esmeralda

The Delia Fiallo soap operas made their way to TV after the year 2000. Who would have guessed that such an inconspicuous lady from Cuba would be responsible for so many soap opera themes? (02/16/2011)

The flagship of South American soap operas. If it were just this one, I'd take it as a nice little fling, but when I see the devastation it's brought about, with thousands of women with purple perms and dumbed-down teenage girls devouring one Argentinian and I-don't-know-what-else bullshit after another, it gives me chills. (03/02/2003)

Esmeralda was the first Latin-American romantic series that Czech viewers could see and the one that kick started the massive popularity of the genre that today we call “telenovela”. It should be noted, however, that the viewership of this phenomenon was very gender unbalanced, most of them were women. Since Esmeralda redefined afternoon TV entertainment for many years, I think it deserves at least some attention. For a model, we can take the very first episode, where the little future heroine is punished because she was born a weak woman (she loses her future as the daughter of a rich landowner). The hitherto uninterested viewer becomes suddenly interested and establishes a bond with the heroine, sharing with her the penuries of the presumed punishment of the female generation. In the first episodes, Esmeralda comes to terms with her lot, but then she finds (without a hint of irony) hopes for a better future (she falls in love with the architect of her misfortune: a man), hopes that would be shattered after some time. The happy end can only happen if the roles are reversed (Esmeralda can see! José Armando becomes blind!), when the male character sees (again, without any hint of irony) – realises – how hard it was for Esmeralda, which leads to the victory of the female principle. The female viewer, who bonded with the “almost dead” heroine in the first episode, has gone through the entire journey with her and for a moment feels the same subjective shift in her original position. However, the final position can never be the same as the position that the viewer is forced to return to after the series’ end. Therefore, the viewer will look for a desirable change in her current situation (they get the “telenovela” virus) and will seek inspiration in the next representative of the genre. Thus, the telenovela works with the “better things to come” principle in the same way as Marxism or Christianity, and it’s no wonder then that it was so successful a few years ago. (01/14/2011)