Mar
16
Futebol and Telenovelas
Posted by: Brian | March 16, 2009 | Comments Off on Futebol and Telenovelas
This week readings are about two of the greatest vices that Latin American people have, futbol and telenovelas, eventough both genders enjoy them; futbol is seen as a manly thing and telenovelas as a girly thing.
Is not a secret that soccer in Latin America is huge, but in Brazil it’s something else, actually there are people that consider it a religion and not a sport, and we could get a scoop of that in this text. One of the phrases that I liked the most of the reading is: “Only three people have, with just one motion, silenced the Maracana: Frank Sinatra, Pope John Paul II and me” (Gigghia). It’s amazing how important is soccer to Brazilians that a single action can silenced a whole country, or on the other hand, engage all the people with a huge celebration. The Maracanazo is the biggest example of this, because for the Brazilian’s this has been the biggest tragedy that has ever occured in their country, but it wasn’t only because of the game; it was also because of the moment when it happened. In Latin America futbol is nearly the only thing that has the power to bring a whole nation together when the national team is playing, but also it has the power to divide the nation when the two biggest teams play against each other. Futbol is a party and as such the whole nation is paralyzed when an important game takes place, most countries are “soccer ruled” and the country moves and works according to the games or soccer events.
Telenovelas are mostly enjoyed by women. These shows usually involves ridiculous love stories, a lot of drama, things that will never happen on real life and people that are extremely good looking that makes you doubt if they are real. They are compared to soap operas, but there have several differences, for example telenovelas eventually get to an end, as soap operas don’t have a final episode. Because of the way they are developed and their structure they really get people consumed on the story, tuning it everytime it is on. It is always on people’s conversations the day after, and sometimes even a couple of minutes after the episode is done. People always wait eagerly for the end of the telenovela, but they feel that there is an empty space after it is done.
