The telenovela is not associated explicitly with female consumption (Lopez, Welcomed Guests 260), however, differing in this

way from a feature of soap opera that has been disparaged (see Livingstone). Ortiz clarifies this distinction, pointing out that, while the telenovela does draw on American soap opera, it relies more on the Cuban radionovela and that the Cuban tradition was rooted in another culture, one that led to privileging the tragic, melodramatic side of life (A evoluo histrica 24). The telenovela, then, like the radionovela, would ultimately attract a general public. As Lopez also notes, the lack of a specific orientation has allowed the telenovela to address broader themes and its name actively seeks prestige by citing an lite genre novella and a new technological medium associated with a much desired modernization (Welcomed Guests 260). The differences between soap opera and the telenovela are not merely formal but rather indicative of socio-cultural and institutional differences between Europe, North America, and Latin America. In turn, they reflect different constructs of modernity; particularly, the tendency to distinguish between different kinds of texts and readers, on the one hand, and the blurring of such distinctions or questions as to the extent to which they really exist, on the other. However, it is not only differences between soap opera and the telenovela but also differences among types of telenovela, themselves, that shed light on Latin Americas articulations of modernity. Jess Martn-Barbero notes that there are distinct subgenres of the telenovela. There is a serious subgenre, in which heart-rending, tragic suffering predominates to depict exclusively primordial feelings and passions, excluding all ambiguity or complexity from the dramatic space; and there is a realistic subgenre, situating the narrative in everyday life in order to represent a specifically national reality (Memory 27980). Lopez differentiates among national versions of the telenovela: the realism of Brazilian telenovelas, the social conservatism of Mexican telenovelas, and the use of literary and historical themes in Columbian telenovelas (Train of Shadows 169). Again, however, if we look beyond the formal qualities of telenovelas, we find that they have institutional, cultural, and political implications