Nation-building and Appeal to Escape; A Recipe for Success in German Telenovelas

By Brooke A. Biolo ENG 358

Prepared for Dr. Harrington-Lueker English Department Salve Regina University

April 27th, 2013

In terms of global media, many forms of media entertainment in countries around the world are actually derived from an outside nation. In the case of television and television formats, America holds the title of one of the worlds largest distributers of media. While America may claim a large percentage of global media exports, countries all across the globe work with foreign television formats and adapt them to suit their own culture. In specific, Germany has demonstrated success in adapting numerous television formats to render them successful within the country. Germany can be characterized, geographically by a cooler, harsher climate, where snowfall is anticipated. The countrys elevation spans from the beautiful beaches of the North and Baltic Seas to the scenic, agrarian mountain ranges of the Alps. With 60% of Germanys land dedicated to forests and farmland and terrain rich in natural resources such as iron ore, copper, natural gas and salt: Germans have much to be thankful for. On a cultural level, Germany has been called the land of poets and thinkers, for the many great authors and philosophers of German inheritance. Intellectuals seem to thrive in the country throughout history. Today, the country promotes disability rights as well as a high level of gender equality and is legally and socially tolerant to gays. BBC recognized Germany as the most positive world influence of 2010. This is not to say, however, that Germany has not seen hardship. I think it is safe to say that there exists a type of global blame placed on Germany for the events of the Holocaust. Though naturally just the worlds scapegoat, even today, the

shadow of World War II remains thinly visible (Legacy Publishers). As if the blame was not enough punishment, Germany was devastated by the war and the country was not fully reunited until 1989. They were economically wiped; between feeding the German war machine and the extreme inflation they had experienced prior to the war. The country in total suffered 7,393,000 total deaths in World War II. So even though the war ended in 1945, the shadow it cast on Germany far outlasted it. Even while lurking in the shadows of a post-war economy and society, German media did not falter. Germany continued to create their own television shows and even engaged in global TV format trade. One particular television format that achieved success in Germany is the telenovela (of Latin American origin) or what we know as the soap opera. Through their ability to enthrall their viewers, acting as an escape from the harsh realities of life and their emphasis nationbuilding to inspire German viewers, German telenovelas have seen great success in the German television market.

Fleeing realities of Germany with Verliebit To begin my analysis, I am going to set the scene in Germany in 2005. In the fall, like many other countries across the planet, the countrys economy was taking a hit with the drastic rise in oil prices. As an industrialized nation, they relied heavily on oil and their economy suffered a blow. According to DIW Berlins weekly report, 11.2% of the nation was unemployed compared to a 10.1% the previous year and a 10.9% the following (DIW Berlin).

That being said, its worth mentioning that the same year, German telenovela Verliebit (In love with Berlin) became a success. The program is an adaptation of a Colombian Telenovela called Yo Soy Betty La Fea. Though the program only takes on the format of the show, it still consists of many of the same dramas with the ever popular, happy ending, in sight. According to a Duestche Welle article about the program, it glues viewers to their seats, throwing them into this drama-filled alternate society (Winkler). Winkler acknowledges that the managing director of the station that produces the program suggests its success comes from the fact that Germans are not doing too well and its possible that they want less reality (Winkler). But how, exactly, does a mere television program have the power to captivate viewers so much as to temporarily estrange them from their lives? As Louise Spence put in her analysis, Fantasy, Reality, and Pleasure in Watching Daytime Soap Operas, it is because they are so compelling that they make viewers believe they are actually getting to know about people and life (Spence 186). In the case of Yo Soy Betty La Fea, the opening scene of the first episode is shot completely from Bettys point of view; in fact, the viewer does not even actually see Betty until about ten minutes in. This manner of filming is really putting the viewer in Bettys shoes, inviting one to experience the day with Betty. Another point Spence brings up that contributes to Yo Soy Betty La Feas (or Verliebits) captivating power is her idea that soap operas situate us with them. By this Spence is referring to how soap operas progress parallel to our own lives (Spence 184). Ugly Betty (originally Yo Soy Betty La Fea) follows this sort of

timeline through Christmas episodes, mention of a fall issue coming out and more. It is in this manner, that the soap opera further engrosses viewers, inviting them to experience a reality that coincides temporarily with our own reality (Sconce 184). These tactics of compelling viewers, giving them characters to sympathize with and relate too, while at the same time, throwing them into these overly dramatic plot lines help the Telenovelas to create an escape route for German people (in specific) and the success of Verliebit in 2005 accurately demonstrates this.

Brief History of Telenovelas and Explanation of Cuban Culture While we can attribute much of the success of telenovelas in Germany to their capacity to allow viewers an escape, that can be said of telenovelas all over the world. In Cuba, where the novelas originated, the novelas have appealed to audiences in similar ways. The origin of the melodramatic serialized romance found in the novelas came from 18th Century England and 19th century France serialized novels called feullitons. US radio soap operas also had an influence on the novelas. The first actual telenovelas emerged in the 1950s in Cuba where they were shorter, lasting between 15 and 20 episodes and were shown a few times a week (Lapastina). With their growing popularity, they soon claimed the spot of the leading-genre in primetime specials. By the late 1960s local markets started producing their own stories, bringing in local influences and shaping the narratives to particular audiences (Lapastina). Here, we can see the rapid spread of the global television format. By 1988, Brazil had exported telenovelas to more than 128 countries, rendering them a truly global phenomenon.

While the epidemic manner in which telenovelas spread to the rest of the globe is evident, their presence in Germany is particularly interesting as Cuban culture represents a counter-culture to that of Germany. Solely on geographic terms, Cuba supports fertile lands and a warm tropical climate year round. With rolling hills and rainforests in place of Germanys mountains and forests, the immediate differences are obvious. Cuban culture poses a mirror image of German culture, with many citizens of Spanish and African decent as contrasted to Germanys primarily white population. Cubans are instilled with a passion for sports (especially baseball), opposite to Germanys intellectual background. Cubans have faced a slew of political problems throughout their history; from the overthrowing of the Bautista dictatorship by revolutionary Che Guevarra in 1959, to the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, soon followed by the Cuban missile crisis. It is amazing to think that amidst all this havoc in Cuba, emerged a TV format that would later become a global success. Cubans today are still living under a strict regime with restrictions on entering and leaving the country. Cuba is 75th in the world for the amount of people employed, compared to Germany being 14th (World Fact Book). In a Today Show segment on Cuba, Natalie Morales mentions Cuba as a country frozen in time; ironic considering Germany recently claimed the title of worlds most powerful influence (Welcome).

Themes of Nation Building in German-made Telenovelas Lead the Programs to Further Success So with these distinct differences between these two nations in mind, simply appealing to a will to escape reality is not sufficient to draw viewers. Rather, it is the German-made novelas themes of nation-building that aid their success. The German-made novelas re-instill traditional German values, following the hailed German trend of heimatfilm (Kruetzner 240). This concept of heimatfilm, popular in Germany from the late 1940s to the early 1970s entails themes of agrarianism, the importance of a spiritual tie to the German land and non-urban life. To demonstrate exactly how German made novelas utilize this concept of heimatfilm, I looked at Die Schwarzwaldkink (The Black Forest Clinic) a spin off of a Czechoslovakian novela Hospital at the End of the City. Immediately popular upon its release in 1985, the soap opera is set in the Black Forest in Germany (where it is actually filmed). The title sequence is completely composed of images of this beautiful rural scenery, to the point where, void of words, the show could almost look like a travel Germany advertisement, emphasizing this agrarian culture as well as establishing this spiritual tie to the German land. Besides the scenery throughout the series, there is a specific example in one episode of Germanys landscape (mountainous) being pitted against Americas landscape (canyons). The obvious distinction between canyons and mountains mixed with the main characters desire to return to his homeland creates this idea of heimatfilm in this particular soap opera, playing with his nostalgia and deep spiritual connection to his beautiful homeland.

Besides using beautiful scenery to connect professor Brinkmann (shows protagonist) to his homeland, the series re-instills patriarchal Germany (Kruetzner). English Literature professor at the University of Munich acknowledges, The German model is that of benevolent patriarchy (Schabert 69). To explain this phenomenon, Kruetzner and Seiter mention Die Schwarzwaldkink and how the show attempts to render German society back to normal through its characterization of the powerful women in the novel, who are shed in a negative light. For example, the clinics head nurse cast as a stereotypical nosy body, in contrast with Udo, a simple uneducated women who our hero Dr. Brinkmann falls in love with (Kruetzner 243). Brinkmann is cast as a simple hero, living off the land in his mountain home, proving his presence as a good Samaritan through several close relationships with peasant characters (Kruetzener 240). The contrasting roles of the successful male and female characters in the show creates and exploits a negative view of successful women, discouraging the idea of a matriarchal society and demonstrating the pros of a patriarchal one. With this technique in conjunction with heimatfilm themes, Die Schwarzwaldkink promotes the idea of nation building to its viewers, demonstrating yet another reason for the success of the Telenovela format in Germany. Through the analysis of German-made telenovelas, Die Schwarzwaldkink and Verliebit, it is clear that themes of nation building and concept of an escape from reality appeal to the German culture and in turn, render the format successful in Germany. This is significant because, on a cultural level German and Cuba represent very different ends of the spectrum. While the shows are adapted to better suit German culture, the appeal to escape instilled in the novelas from its Latin roots, is

what renders them a phenomenon in Germany. The texts of the novelas lend themselves to simple adaptation and through their success in Germany; one can see that global success is attainable, even in a counter-culture. Germany instills their own nation-building themes into the novelas, appealing to techniques like heimatfilm. In a conjugation of these two elements that allows the format success. The success of telenovelas in Germany is important because it proves that telenovelas are an extremely successful global format, being able to thrive in a country very much their opposite. A 2006 BBC article claims, In fact, they are possibly the number-one form of human entertainment on the planet. It goes on to support that some say a third of the human race are glued to the telenovelas everyday. That being said, it is more than obvious that telenovelas have proved themselves successful in the global television market.

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Schabert, Ina. "No Room Of One's Own: Women's Studies In English Departments In Germany." PMLA: Publications Of The Modern Language Association Of America119.1 (2004): 69-79. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 Apr. 2013. Spence, Lousie. They Killed off Marlena, but shes on another show now Fantasy, Reality and Pleasure in Watching Daytime Soap Operas. To Be Continued: Soap Operas around the World ; Edited by Robert C. Allen. London: Routledge, 1995. Print. The Editors of Legacy Publishers. "The Cold War: October 1951-1991" 13 September 2007. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://history.howstuffworks.com/cold-war/the-cold-war-timeline.htm> 24 April 2013. "Welcome to the New, Post-Fidel Cuba." Today. The Today Show, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2013. Winkler, Mathis. "Telenovelas Get Trendy in Germany." DW.DE. Deutsche Welle, 3 Jan. 2005. Web. 17 Mar. 2013. "World Fact Book: Cuba." CIA. N.p., 15th Apr. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2013. "World Fact Book: Germany." CIA. N.p., 15th Apr. 2013. Web. 25 Apr. 2013.