THE RELEVANCE OF SOAP OPERAS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MEXICAN

NATIONAL IDENTITY
Introduction
Soap operas have been a fundamental part in the development of the average
Mexican, in the following document, the relevance of these shows in the
development of Mexican personality will be analyzed, mostly through the stories of
women with passive roles and the representation they play, specifically as victims
of discrimination, violence, sexuality and objectification. The objective of this article
is to explain how stereotypes contribute to the maintenance of the normalized
model of violence in terms of affective relationships, and to explore in depth the
negative dramatization of the common life of the Mexican. Stereotypes that affect
the perception of foreigners will also be explored, and a brief look will be given to
why they are a manifestation of the naturalization of life in a capitalist-type society.
Methodology
Firstly, it is important that we acknowledge that soap operas had been on air since
1957 in Mexico, and since then they have been sculpting the national identity in
shapes we couldn’t even imagine.
The first point that will be touched is that the soap operas perpetuate the idea of
normalizing the violence within emotional relationships. The soap operas are so
ingrained in the Latin culture, and they present stereotypes of women, that for love,
support various situations, sending the wrong message because it can promote
gender violence.
Many times violence is found there in disguise as love and even passion, this
means that in everyday life these behaviors are normalized and even celebrated,
more and more women allude to the archetype of the toxic masculine or the male
on Protective, as a type of perfection that must be found, this seen from a
psychological perspective, is perfectly aligned with the most primitive desires of the
human being that are protection, by visualizing jealousy and being possessive with
the other person as a sign of defense and love are moved by the basic instincts of
the human being. There is unnecessary dramatization in soap operas that most of
the time is negative. most soap operas harm emotional health, increase stress
levels, distort the vision of things and reality, and start to live your own soap opera
of drama, gossip and anxiety.
Erwin Höllinger, professor and neurologist at the University of Salsburg, Austria,
found that soap operas have a negative effect on the brain, but soap operas can
be as harmful to the human brain as excessive consumption of certain drugs,
producing symptoms such as general apathy, irritability, personality disorders and
even dementia.
On the other hand, an analysis prepared by the National Evaluation Center for
Higher Education (Ceneval) indicates that those young people who spend four and
even more than ten hours per week watching soap operas, obtain 12 points (out of
128 questions) less than those that they see cultural programs in the tests of
entrance to the baccalaureate. The study, carried out between 1994 and 2002,
aimed to analyze then the impact that some television programs have on academic
performance.
The relationship that soap operas have with foreigners is complicated, it is full of
stereotypes, these mostly in order to directly show the audience the nationality of a
character. These stereotypes often used to caricature a character are negative
since they perpetuate xenophobia towards different races, a clear example would
be as in many soap operas, in which Europeans are always represented as
refined, refined and elegant people, when the reality is that not all are like this.
Soap operas not only project stereotypes towards Mexicans, but also show
foreigners the ideal to which many Mexicans aspire. in turn giving a false image of
Mexicans, which many outlanders firmly believe to be a faithful description of
average life in Mexico.
The last point to deal with would be to explain how these works are an open
manifestation to the naturalization of life in a capitalist society. the brain works with
images, if the average Mexican notices how in these soap operas life is lived in a
way, it would begin to normalize that lifestyle and not only see it as everyday but
would defend and idealize it as the correct thing. the average family, working class
housing and birth control are adjusted. this suggests that ideology requires control
of the body of individuals. With the arrival of the modern era, control is deposited in
seduction, hedonism and consumption, three concepts that the novels not only
manage but also emphasize, normalize and celebrate.
The market tells politics to put up for sale, what to see, what to project, then the
novels outside of being an artistic work have a background of giving that message,
which is to reinforce the stereotypes that people have about themselves, about the
country, others, how to live, eat, behave and act.
All these points make up the development of how soap operas shape the national
identity of the average Mexican, what he should wear and the way in which he
should guide his life consciously or unconsciously.