Censorship in Telenovelas

 

    As we’ve studied telenovelas, I’ve latched on to the idea of storytelling; specifically, how the writers, producers, directors, cast and crew accomplish it. Last week we dove into some heavy topics, such as the regulations in Venezuela and Turkey, and how that has impacted the telenovela industry.

    Since I’ve lived in the United States my whole life, I’ve never understood the full extent of censorship, and learning about it in this class has taught me a lot. It makes me wonder how creators find the fine line between having a boring show and getting into trouble with the government. The only answer I can think of is creativity and a little bit of risk.

    We’ve talked extensively about Kara Para Ask, and specifically about how in Turkey, the censorship is much stricter than it is in other countries. The creators worked around this by showing different kinds of intimate scenes and emphasizing the drama in the show. Without an engaging show (courtesy of everyone working on it), creators would not be able to pull this off. Alternatively, it makes me wonder if current TV, and perhaps other telenovelas, are lacking something because they so often fall back onto sexually intimate scenes.

    Take HBO for example. I’ve heard that many shows would not be as popular without the sex scenes and sex appeal. Although they have interesting plots and engaging characters, the show relies on that extra appeal to draw viewers in, and using these types of scenes so often makes the audience question the point of them. Whether or not this is true is up for debate, but it poses an interesting question.  

    Although it’s a different type of censorship, I’d argue that the Venezuelan telenovelas had to deal with a similar problem, just on a larger scale. Their risks for producing content that went against the regulations seem to be much higher than that of the Turkish telenovelas, and yet they still produced them. We talked about some that still tried to produce content that disagreed with the government, but eventually, they died out and the only ones left were too cautious to follow suit (for good reason).

    Fighting censorship has been something I’ve always been passionate about, and I’ve previously written an article about the topic. Working around government regulations is an art, but calling attention to it takes courage. I think every telenovela produced in Venezuela during this time of censorship possessed that kind of courage, and I hope in the future they are able to come back.

    There are different types of censorship around the world, and I’m not necessarily saying that all of them are bad. It’s just fascinating to learn about how creators still reach their audience with their hands tied and still create a dedicated following to their shows. It makes me think about that original “it” factor in storytelling, the thing that every single person in the entertainment industry looks for. Maybe it’s not as formulaic as we say it is, and maybe there are ways to still extend a message to your audience without saying what you want to say.