a strong flower: Flor Salvaje

     I have finally settled on a telenovela that I wish to divulge in. I have chosen a Colombian telenovela- one that appears to have a more “Rosa” set up of the story line that surrounds a young woman who enters into a prostitute community to try to find a way to save her sisters.

     Flor Salvaje is a telenovela by Telemundo that aired from fall 2011 to early spring 2012. This telenovela has me hooked ever since the first dramatic scene of Amanda Montaverde’s brother being buried alive at the hands of a corrupt police department. As they drag the limp body of her brother out to the street where her ailing and wailing mother is, there becomes a chaos of crying and a crowd of people. Before I notice, her mother pours something over her own body and sets herself on fire.

Now, I knew telenovelas were dramatic, but my mouth literally stayed open for a minute as I saw what this indigenous woman did! Maybe this had ties with the mourning process of mestizo culture or of the indigenous sects in Latin America but to set yourself on flames because the thought of living without one of your offspring? Is this true love?…like when Anikan’s mother let him leave the slavery scorn planet of Tatooine in Star Wars Episode I? Or is this selfishness?...Like when Anikan acts on his selfishness to marry Padme and ends up putting her in danger when she comes with him on his mission to defeat the republic.

     Now, Monica Spear’s character, is distraught-obviously- but takes the initiative now, as the oldest, to provide for her sisters. I personally have an idea how it is to grow up without guidance or financial support, but these girls have been left on the street. There is a large population of children who live in the sewers of Colombia. They- orphans- live off of stealing and bartering and often get run out by the police or the upper class of big cities in Colombia. Seeing the way Amanda and her sisters walked around the streets looking for food reminded me of the current situation that my home country faces.

Though Amanda continues on later to fill the “princess” character in this story line, she exhibits and incredible amount of strength and is a source of stability and security for her sisters as she takes the initiatives to provide for them- even when it is to steal from a local prostitute in their community. She has to fill the mother-like position while looking for somewhere to sleep in the streets and eventually gets to convince that same prostitute to take her and her sisters in.

     In another turn of events, their mother figure ends up dying in the middle of the night and the girls are once again left as orphans! So Amanda again takes the initiative and moves on with her sisters. She does not even think to give up or to go get help. Whether or not it was due to her father out casting her and her sisters and the pain from that or her perceived stubbornness- Amanda is a strong and fierce female character that exemplifies characteristics in what a strong female role Is in my mind.

When I would watch any show, I would always identify with the strong female characters and learn their stories and the lessons they would teach through their acting and through the personification of their character’s experiences. But I am surprised that I am excited to watch a story line where the love story surrounds the act of selling and action that is what I consider the epitome of love! The fact that she has to be a prostitute- or that she chooses to become one in this love story- has made me really adjust my sensors and my thresholds for how love is to be expressed, especially in this story line.