Abstract
In 2007, the big question circulating in many villages, towns and cities across Latin America was whether one was with the divinas or populares
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Notes
- 1.
The Latin American telenovela shares some similarity with the US or British soap opera but also has its own generic features. Many command large budgets, advertising rates and audiences. They get widely exported throughout Latin America and beyond. They are shown during the day and in prime time. Most run for 3–6 months and have “climactic, nation-paralyzing endings” (Soong 1999).
- 2.
- 3.
Lesley Henderson (2007) shows how issues discussed in soap operas and other forms of TV fiction play an important role in shaping social attitudes and encouraging engagement.
- 4.
This is a reference to a peaceful protest against water privatization in Suchitoto, El Salvador in 2007. It was brutally repressed by state forces and 14 protestors were charged with acts of terrorism. While such political violence is not uncommon in El Salvador, on this occasion the violence was filmed on cell phones and uploaded to You Tube. The images were spread rapidly around the world, and shared among activists and solidarity committees. In 2008, the charges against the protestors were dropped and there is no doubt that global media visibility played an important role in this outcome.
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One of the key objectives of postdevelopment (see Escobar 1995).
- 6.
It is important to recognize that this telenovela was being heavily discussed in face-to-face sites as well. Indeed, I heard many conversations about it during a 6 month stay in Nicaragua in 1999.
- 7.
The lighter-skinned you are in Latin America, the easier it is to get employment in jobs that require engagement with the public, such as retail assistants, bank tellers and receptionists.
- 8.
Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast is quite ethnically and linguistically distinct from the rest of Nicaragua as it is home to a number of indigenous peoples and ethnic communities who have often clashed with the Pacific region and the national political leadership in Managua. Political and military struggles in the region led to the passing of an autonomy law in 1987. Since then, local people have been attempting to strengthen the region’s autonomy and make it more politically effective.
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This research is supported by the Marsden Fund of the Royal Society of New Zealand, grant number MAU1108.
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Cupples, J. (2015). Development Communication, Popular Pleasure and Media Convergence. In: Mains, S., Cupples, J., Lukinbeal, C. (eds) Mediated Geographies and Geographies of Media. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9969-0_21
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