Tierra de Pasiones

This US produced telenovela by Telemundo is a much more serious soap in the way the characters are portrayed. Abortion, murder, greed and gluttony underscore the entire soap opera in its characters. Tierra is a story about Valaria San Roman, the oldest sister of a powerful family in charge of a great vineyard and shipping company. She is disliked by her father and younger sister, and seems to have trouble being happy. As the plot thickens, the show provides the answers to Valaria’s distress. Valaria falls in love with a foreigner, finds out the truth about unknown family members and finally finds solace within her. In this telenovela, I decided to focus on the father of Valaria – Don Chema. He is cold, harsh on Valaria and never satisfied with business unless he benefits absolutely. He never reveals a moment of vulnerability with his family members, including his own children. I believe he is a perfect example of the Spanish macho male. Therefore, I decided to look at Don Chema’s scenes, and his relationships with the two other stereotypes. The vain Spanish female in Tierra is the owner’s new wife, Marcia Hernandez. She is married only for money and deceives many of the characters in the soap. I will then look at Chema’s relationship with the gay character, Antonio who is the son of the help to the San Roman family.

            Don Chema is portrayed as a cold, lonely, material man right from the beginning of the soap. In his first scene with his youngest daughter, Belinda, Chema explains his theory of life to the maids of the house and Belinda: “I came to this position without any help. You must realize that in this life, you only have yourself. Trust no one that can betray. Tell no one anything that could harm you. Be everyone’s friend and use them until they’re expendable” (Episode 1, Tierra). Chema is representative as the same Spanish macho male Mendiola. He believes that emotions and love is immaterial; the only thing that matters is wealth and success. We are given many situations where Chema reveals his opinions about females – through his actions. As Tierra continues, we see Chema sleeping with a maid, a married woman, and even a woman as young as his youngest daughter. In bed, Chema talks to Marica, the wife of the wine rival of Chema: “we are both adults, you gave me your body, so what do you want from me? If it is too big, then you will have to provide me more of these ‘business meetings.’ I think those would suffice” (Episode 22, Tierra). He uses women just for sex, conforming to his socialized gender as heteronormativity explains.

            When Chema finds out that the son of the help of the house – Antonio – is gay, Chema is repulsed and decides that the boy could be blackmailed for information concerning his oldest daughter, Valaria. Chema hires a person to photograph Antonio and his lover and subsequently brings Antonio into his office for interrogation: “Tony, you disgust me. If only you were half the man your father was, you have such despicable tastes. God help you. You will tell me what Valaria is planning or I will inform your family of your sins” (Episode 17, Tierra). Chema not only rejects the lifestyle of Antonio, but brings in religion by asking God to help him. As Barker and Stavans state, characters in telenovelas are taken from popular current discourse. And so, Chema not only represents the macho male, he represents the generalized category of authoritative Spanish males. His intolerance for homosexuality and return to religion speaks to current society. The conflict between Antonio and Chema is as real as society gets – Chema represents the Catholic conservative Spanish male of the past; Antonio represents the new liberal young Spanish man, practicing a different individual truism as Morland would state from queer theory.

            Don Chema represents past Spanish Catholic ideology[1]. At the same time, he is portrayed as a corrupt character, cheating, stealing and committing adultery. He never reveals an ounce of vulnerability. He remains in performance – believing him to be the only thing that matters. Chema clings to the status quo – heteronormativity and conservatism is where Chema lives safely. Here he can never worry about women overpowering or outsmarting him; here he can be sure that as a male, he will always be in charge.

El Cuerpo del Deseo

This US produced soap opera was the biggest telenovela of the 2005-06 program year. Created by Telemundo, the Miami-based television broadcaster, Cuerpo incorporates the most conflicts by creating ambitious and ignorant characters. The story is simple: an old business man – Pedro Jose of 79 years – marries a far younger employee from his company named Isabel Arroyo. Days after the wedding, Pedro Jose dies and his body is transferred to the body of a peasant in a different country – a peasant named Salvador Cerinza. This is where the soap’s story takes place. Isabel inherits the fortune; the family of Isabel and the relatives of Pedro Jose begin to uncover secrets about Isabel and her true intentions. Meanwhile Pedro Jose, now Salvador Cerinza, finds a way to get back to his house to his family to find out how he died and fix the relationships he left unsolved. For this soap, I will look at the vain Spanish female – Isabel Arroyo and how she carries her actions through the show. I will also look at her relationship with Andres, the vice president of Pedro Jose’s company. Andres will represent the macho Spanish male.

            Isabel Arroyo is first shown as a modest woman in the soap. In dialogue with Pedro Jose, she states that she never wants a cent from him, “My love, don’t ever help me with my finances. I am married to you, but I can keep my house in line; all I want from you is your love” (Episode 1, Cuerpo). Isabel is beautiful, with a highly sexualized figure. We think she is beautiful and innocent by her actions in the first episodes. But what the storyline reveals is that Isabel marries Pedro Jose for money. When asked by her secret lover, Andres, if she ever loved Pedro, Isabel responds, “he is a great man, but his love was as old and decrepit as him; he knew I wanted his fortune, or else he was a fool to this otherwise” (Episode 8, Cuerpo). Here we view Isabel’s true goals in life – wealth and position; love has nothing to do with the equation. Isabel represents the vain Spanish female, thriving in materiality and superficiality.

            As much as Isabel believes herself to be in control of her life, it is Andres – her secret lover – which controls and dictates Isabel. He is man who convinces Isabel to plot against Pedro Jose and kill him. As much as Isabel tries, she feels inferior to the power of Andres. The relationship, without a doubt, draws upon its intended audience. According to Charlotte Brunsdon, “telenovelas present psychological situation relevant to the women who watch them” (Brunsdon 67). Therefore, the reason why Isabel remains under the emotional control of Andres is because in reality, the same submissive relationships exist. Isabel and Andres are a social commentary to how Spanish women are portrayed in Latin America. Elizabeth Fox and Sueann Caulfield both document the role and position of Spanish women in their books, From Tango to Telenovela and The Historiography of Gender in Latin America. The power dynamics between Spanish males and females are challenged by economics. In the end, the male always has the highest role and position, as he is most able economically.

            And so, Isabel Arroyo is just another vain woman, with material priorities – wealth and power. She is forced to indulge in materiality though by being subjugated by the Spanish male – Andres. Andres directs her life and leaves her trapped in a world where she can only turn to materiality to feel in power.