Not all telenovelas are the same....

After seeing a few episodes of Sin Tetas No Hay Paraiso I can’t stop watching. When this telenovela was first released I remember my mother and father always sitting down in the living room and watching it once he got home from work. They were so addicted to it that they would not even bother eating dinner, seeing what would happen to Catalina and the rest of her friends was more important. At the time I could not figure out how a telenovela could grab their attention like that. Since I had grown up in the United States I was used to the telenovela rosa that Univision usually broadcasted. I hated the way things were portrayed and how fake everything seemed to me. Every aspect of the telenovela was over dramatized and I just could not stand it. By being exposed to those kinds of telenovelas I had grown to think that all telenovelas were the same. Thankfully I was completely wrong in that matter. Although I am a little late in watching Sin Tetas No Hay Paraiso, I have grown to appreciate other Colombian productions such as Betty La Fea, Hasta Que La Plata Nos Separe, and most recently Pablo Escobar: El Patron del Mal. 

I feel that the main reason that I like Colombian telenovelas more than any other kind such as Mexican, Argentinian, or even Brazilian is the fact that its Colombian. I love hearing the ascents from different parts of the country, seeing the backdrop of the capital or other important cities, and overall just being able to understand the jokes and different references that are being made. It makes me feel closer to a country that I only get to visit once a year. In addition to that, it keeps me closer to my family and friends in Bogota. Any conversation I have with them usually ends with us talking for more than an hour about the telenovela we are watching. Currently the big novela in Colombia is La Seleccion and my friends literally stop whatever they are doing just to watch it. Now that it is being broadcasted in the United States I am beginning to see why they liked it so much.

In the summer I went to Colombia to visit family and friends. During a dinner one night I remember that everyone slowly started leaving the living room and going to the television room at around 10 pm. I could not understand why the dinner party had stopped so abruptly. After going to investigate what was going on, I entered the next room and saw all 10 people sitting in front of the television completely absorbed by what they were watching. During the hour that it was shown no one talked unless it was to say something about the telenovela. It simply amazed me. I had seen my parents do this before but it was hard for me to comprehend why anyone would leave a nice party just to watch TV. 

As I have begun to watch more and more telenovelas in recent years I have begun to comprehend how it can captivate almost anyone no matter their social status or gender. The maid and my grandma would sit down just to talk about what had happened in the telenovela the night before which always seemed a bit weird to me.  Recently I have begun to understand this more. Telenovelas, have been able to stand the test of time and unite usually divided countries all over the world, not just Latin America. It has even united my family due to the fact that we all sit around the living room on Sundays to catch up on the episodes we recorded during the week. My views on telenovelas has changed. They have plots and characters for everyone. I cannot wait to continue watching Sin Tetas No Hay Paraiso and become obsessed with these new sets of characters and the overall storyline. If this novela is as great as the other Colombian telenovelas I have seen I will not be disappointed.