If TV was, arguably, the major form of cultural transmission in the twentieth century, then surely the Internet has overtaken it in the twenty-first. In fact, if anything, the Internet has now absorbed TV, as we are as likely as not to take in our favorite shows (via Netflix or other streaming services) or get our daily news update (even from traditional broadcasters such as CBC or CNN) via the same screens and the same means as we access the Internet in general. And yet the promise, at least, of the Internet was once that it was more democratic, more open, and offered spaces for previously marginalized voices and identities to be heard and represented. With the rise of tech giants such as Facebook and Amazon, we may wonder if that is really any more the case. At the same time, in parts of Latin America, Internet service is still patchy or slow. And perhaps there are still places where the utopian dream of online communication lives on.
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- Morgan, Nick. Sex, Soap, and Society: Telenovela Noir in Álvaro Uribe's Colombia"
- Grandinetti, Justin, and Marie Elizabeth Eszenyi, "La revolución digital: Mobile Media Use in Contemporary Cuba"
Sin tetas no hay paraíso
Even if you don’t speak Spanish, I think you can get a sense of the narconovela “Sin Tetas No Hay Paraíso” (the series that is the focus of Nick Morgan’s article) by watching some of it.
Trailer:
Episode One, “Catalina quiere verse hermosa”:
And here is the entire series as a playlist.
Narconovelas
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- Broadcast television is, on the whole, produced more for the people than by the people; indeed it is usually produced either by the state (as with the CBC, say) or by large corporations. In what ways, and to what extent, may it nonetheless allow popular views and perspectives to be aired?
- The Internet, by contrast, is at least in principle a medium to which (almost) anyone can contribute, either through "Web 2.0" sites such as FaceBook or YouTube, or simply via email, Chat services, and the like. What the are limits or constraints on this "democratic" potential?
- What are the ways in which TV is stratified or (at times, literally) channeled: e.g. in the distinctions between daytime and evening, between different genres, or between different channels or providers? How is the Internet in its turn also parcelled up? Can we (still) speak of a TV or Internet "public sphere"? Or might it be better to talk of a multitude of "private" spheres?
- How do TV and the Internet interact and/or overlap? How do they both relate to the "real world"?
- Nick Morgan points out that a "lack of verisimilitude is one of [the] defining features" of telenovelas. What kinds of stories do they tell, and why do people watch them?
- Morgan's analysis is in large part based on discussions with different groups of people about shows that he and they both happened to have watched. What do we talk about when we talk about TV?
TV and Internet questions
how do generalizations play into discussions of popular culture? Can we discuss popular culture without them? On another note, do you think the psychological phenomena of the poverty mindset has any effect on what popular culture is consumed in a society with high rates of poverty?
I wonder, do narratives created by shows like Sin Tetras about Colombian society, observably fiction or not, play into a national cultural conscience? What stories do narconovelas tell about Latin American societies, and could there be a dimension of the internalization of these by their audiences?
Are narconovelas challenging or glorifying that drug trade within Latin America?
I wonder what are some similarities/differences between narcocorridos & narconovelas, and why do you think they evoke contradictory feelings in people despite their popularity?
Telenovelas, like Sin Tetas No Hay Paradiso, are unabashedly over the top. Everyone understands that these are for entertainment. Yet, people perceive truth. Not to mention a lot of them advertise “based on a true story”. Where do we draw the line between truth and fiction in media? Is there a line?
Can you think of any dark and grotesque media (e.g. TV shows, movies, YouTube videos, etc) that many Canadians subscribe to that is somewhat adjacent to narconovelas? If so, what is it? If not, why do you think similar types of TV shows don’t exist or aren’t as popular as they are in Colombia?
Besides narcos are there any other popular tv shows that display the drug trade on major platforms?
how do you feel about the transmission of popular culture through either physical copies or online?
What is your experience with mobile media? Looking back, how does the developments and the changes in technology and media forms affected your own personal view on the society, the politics, the economy and your self?
What is your take on limited internet connectivity? Pros? cons?
Like popular culture, how does the internet form communities and connections?
Could the internet itself be considered popular culture?
Is Cuba so detached from the world because there is not a lot of access to the internet/global culture?
Do you think the internet’s impact on culture is mainly for the better or worse?
Do you think internet connectivity in the global south can have largely beneficial or detrimental effects?
Notes from class discussion (April 7, 2021)
