The future of (Ben and) telenovelas

Throughout this semester, we have learned so much from our amazing professor, Doctor A. Whether she was lecturing in class, setting up interviews with famous actors/actresses/writers, or talking to us through email and pre-recorded PowerPoints, Doctor A was expanding our minds. I'm sure I speak for all of us when I say thank you. Because honestly, this course has impacted me in ways I didn't expect it to. I have Colombian family that I got to see over Christmas break, and I told them about my plans to take this class. They were all super excited for me to get a glimpse into their lives back in Colombia when they were growing up, which in turn allowed me to hear some really amazing stories I had never heard before. (It also was when I first realized that this class would be good for my Spanish that clearly needed work after I kept having to ask Tía Nelly to repeat things 🤣😅)

With this semester coming to a close in such an unexpected way, I look back at our class time with such a longing for our lost class time to learn so much more... haha nooo! I'm most upset we don't get to enjoy a delicious home cooked meal from Doctor A!!! In all seriousness though, I am sad that we missed out on so many interesting discussion topics. The one that I think is the most intriguing is the conversation behind remakes of Telenovelas. It's so wild to me that Corazón Salvaje for example was re-made four times! How can something be done over and over and over again like that? I think Alberto Barrera is spot on in this quote from the slides: "Remakes come from one of the greatest anxieties in the telenovela industry: the guarantee of success." But I want to relate that to people. We can't try to do things the exact same way as others in hopes of being successful. What works for some just simply doesn't work for all. In the current digital age, I worry about kids and young adults that are our age who feel so much social pressure to be picture perfect in a way that should "guarantee success." I'm an RA here at UGA, and I saw Tik Tok take over some of my residents' and friends' lives while they try to copy famous people as best they can so they too can become Tik Tok famous. And yes I understand they do it because it's fun and that they know the odds are stacked against them reaching fame through this app. However, not everyone does.

I was watching La Reina del Sur 1, which was recently followed by La Reina del Sur 2. (I got lucky with that for the sake of this argument as it helps prove my final point I want to make) We as a society should try to focus on part 2, or chapter 3, or season 4, and so on, instead of trying to be Ben 2.0... no Ben 3.0... no no this is Ben 4.0, better than ever! Looking back at who we were to learn from our mistakes is the real way to guarantee future success. Trying to do remake after remake will only result in a bored audience and an unsustainable future.