Thursday, November 5, 2015

Do's and Don't's of Telenovela Villains

Juana la Virgen, a rosa-catagorized Venezuelan telenovela, centers around a tense love triangle. The original couple, Mauricio and Carlota, are happily married at the start of the series. However, Juana accidentally becomes impregnated with Mauricio's baby - and he can't help but fall in love with the independent, strong-willed teenager. After only a few episodes, it's clear that Carlota and her various assistants are the only ones trying to keep this unexpected relationship apart. 

Carlota certainly hides her malicious traits during the first one or two episodes, but nevertheless, her plans are quickly revealed. She has many of the characteristics that the "perfect" villain would have: she is beautiful, charming, clever, persistent, and ruthless. Juana's innocence and young age does not grant her any ounce of sympathy from Carlota.




Carlota does NOT forgive or forget. She does not give up, and she does not let anyone stand in her way. She DOES create back-up plans, keep key players in the dark, join forces, and gather her troops. While Carlota is not the perfect villain, the scariest, or the most evil, she embodies a villain that is much more prevalent in our society. Seemingly sweet and harmless, she epitomizes what the true villains in our lives would do. Slowly, carefully destroy our dreams...

6 comments:

  1. I love this take on the villain in Juana La Virgin being a "modern day" villain. She is not as obvious as other rosa telenovela antagonists, and as such she becomes that much more evil to us the viewers. We can relate to deception and evil plans based on knowledge and the use of "minions." This type of villain is much more relatable than a the extreme and outlandish schemes of other telenovela villains.

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  2. I think it's interesting how quickly the shift came for Carlota to move into the villainous role--I almost expected her to be a character the audience could sympathize with, but she immediately became an "evil" character. Have any other villains come in throughout the telenovela? I'm curious to see if she is dynamic, or if she remains the "classic villain" throughout the show

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  3. Interesting how we consider Carlota to be the villain and not her wandering husband! I'm a huge fan of Jane the Virgin, but I've yet to watch Juana La Virgen. I'd be interested to know what the overall reaction was to this plot line. If Mauricio and Carlota were happy before Juana and then Mauricio decided to stray after meeting her then who is REALLY in the wrong here? Also, Juana is a teenager? How old is Mauricio?!

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    1. I agree with you, Angela. In my opinion Carlota is more of a victim than a villain. Mauricio is way older than Juana. And, sometimes, if it were in real life, it would be kind of "disgusting" thinking of a guy like him and Juana together. hahaha
      of course we overlook it because of the magic of the telenovela love story.

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  4. I found your post interesting because the villain in my telenovela is also the same way. Rubí is drop dead gorgeous, plays the sweet innocent part until she gets what she wants and turns her back on everyone that she seemingly once loved. She is not happy, and I don't think she will end up happy in the end because of everything wrong she has done throughout the show. Even though this is just a show, there are a lot of people in the world like Rubí and Carlota. They use their beauty to get what they want. Villains in a show never end up happy, and that is a valuable lesson for the audience especially if children are watching.

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  5. A growing trend is the love for the villains in TV shows, telenovelas, and movies. Recently, more and more movies and TV shows in the US are centered on the glorification of villains. I like your description of Carlota and how she is portrayed throughout the telenovela. The villains in the telenovela I am watching are intelligent and attractive as well. However, they are easy to hate. I never find myself rooting for them, as some do with Pablo Esobar and other similar narconovelas.

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