Perspectives in Health Magazine |
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Latin America's telenovelas have long captivated TV audiences with their overwrought stories of love and betrayal, sin and punishment, and triumph over adversity. But for public health advocates, they also are an ideal medium for transmitting positive messages about healthier living.
José Alfredo, a handsome young Mexican, has been confined to a wheelchair since an accident two years ago. But he hasn't let it get him down. He still plays basketball, he runs his own shoe store, and he recently married a beautiful woman. His motto is: "You're only defeated when you feel defeated." Julia, an Argentine housewife, is fed up with her husband's physical abuse. After 15 years, she summons the courage to report him to the police and demand a divorce, completely changing her life. Capitú, a young Brazilian woman, holds a condom in front of her partner and with a single gesture makes it clear that they'll make love using protection-or not at all.
They are all fictional characters, appearing in scenes from the Latin American soap operas Entre el amor y el odio (Between Love and Hate), Sin marido (Husbandless) and Lazos de Sangre (Blood Ties). Their stories, however, mirror the lives of real men and women and thus provide a powerful medium for transmitting positive messages on important issues of public health.
Soap operas, and their Latin American counterparts, known as telenovelas, are among television's most widely watched genres worldwide. "There are data from a number of countries on their impact, not just in commercial terms but also in terms of their cultural and social importance," says Nora Mazziotti, professor of communication sciences at the University of Buenos Aires and author of The Telenovela Industry.
The first telenovelas-which differ from U.S. soap operas in that each begins and ends within about a year's time-appeared in the 1960s, when a group of Cuban screenwriters led by Delia Fiallo began adapting radio theater stories for use on television. From the outset these stories, with themes taken from classical tragedy-betrayal, forbidden love, punishment -captivated television audiences throughout Latin America.
In the late 1980s, these Latin soap operas began to cross over beyond Spanish-speaking audiences in North and South America to viewers overseas. In China, for example, some 450 million viewers followed the Brazilian telenovela La esclava Isaura (Isaura, the Slave). Seven out of 10 Russians tuned in regularly to Mexico's Los ricos también lloran (The Rich Also Cry), and the Venezuelan series, Cristal-about a young small-town woman in the big city-ran seven seasons, with the final episode drawing some 11 million fans. Telenovelas' larger-than-life story lines may be exaggerated renditions of real-life dramas, but many viewers see their own lives reflected in those of their favorite stars. They identify themselves and others they know with various characters and are drawn in by the compelling twists and turns of overwrought plots. Thus, modeling a behavior they see on screen is almost natural.
No wonder then that beginning in the 1970s professional health communicators in Latin America decided to insert positive health and life-skills messages among the tears, betrayals and star-crossed love affairs. At first, the messages were basic, almost intuitive, such as "smoking is bad" or "you need an education to make something of yourself." Over time they have evolved toward deeper social themes, providing a subtle but effective guide for public opinion on sometimes controversial matters of public health while promoting a healthier and more ethical society.
The power of fiction
An early indication of telenovelas' enormous potential came in 1986, when a character on Venezuela's Cristal was diagnosed with breast cancer. The episode led to an avalanche of female patients getting check-ups in Venezuela and in Spain, where the series also aired. But there were even earlier experiences. In Entertainment Education: A Communication Strategy for Social Change, Everett Rogers and Arvind Singhal analyze the success of Simplemente María (Simply Maria), the story of a Peruvian country woman who moves to the city, becomes pregnant, is betrayed and must carry and give birth to her baby alone. After the show aired in Peru in 1969 (it was readapted later in several other countries), there was a marked increase in enrollment in classes for literacy and sewing-the two things that helped Maria overcome her obstacles and move on in life. Unintentionally, Simply Maria had produced social change.
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"My intention was to have commercial television produce social benefits through telenovelas, which are viewed by the very people who most need to become better informed," says Sabido. "I wanted to provide those viewers with the tools they need to improve their own lives. I set up study groups to analyze behaviors and ways of incorporating positive messages without betraying the rules of the genre. I capitalized on the shows' capacity for moral reflection about good and evil and showed how all this could be done without hurting their ratings."
In 1994, Colombia's Ministry of Health coproduced Santa María del Olvido (Saint Mary the Forgotten), a telenovela about social and health issues aimed at a female audience. Last year, officials from Brazil's Ministry of Health acknowledged that the theme of drug addiction in TV Globo's El clon (The Clone) in 2001 had done more for the prevention and treatment of drug dependency than many government campaigns. As the troubled young Mel watched his life fall apart because of drug abuse, the show's screenwriters inserted snippets of testimony from real-life drug addicts between the dramatized scenes.
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Perez notes that while telenovelas cannot singlehandedly solve social problems, they can make a significant contribution. "When telenovelas spark national interest, organizations working on the same issues should take advantage of the heightened interest and carry out public-awareness campaigns," she says.
Currently, the Hollywood, Health and Society program at the University of Southern California (USC) is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to train screenwriters and producers on health issues. Recently, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) helped Suriname import the South African soap Soul City, whose plots cover such issues as AIDS, teenage pregnancy and drug addiction.
Breaking the pattern
As health themes have gained ground on the soap scene, two types of programs have emerged: telenovelas produced specifically to promote a particular message and those that include health themes in the context of a larger plot. Both types have been growing in number as well as shifting their focus as awareness of social and public health issues has increased. Many early telenovelas followed a "good vs. bad" model: the bad guys were the ones infected with HIV (for example, in the Argentine program Celeste, starring Andrea del Boca), and unwanted pregnancy was punishment for a night of sex out of wedlock-an error the heroine paid for over the course of the next 300 episodes.
A new generation of screenwriters is now producing what they call "breaking-thepattern telenovelas." Pushing the messageplacement envelope, they have tackled such high-impact issues as urban violence, political corruption, AIDS and even trafficking in human organs in series such as Colombia's La mujer del presidente (The President's Wife) in 1998 and Amores perros (Love's a Bitch) in 1999, Brazil's Nada personal (Nothing Personal) in 1997 and Argentina's Resistiré (I Will Resist) in 2003.
Telenovelas still have their retrograde moments, with lines such as: "Look how you treat your husband; no wonder he beats you," spoken by a female character in Venezuela's Telefutura production Angélica pecado (Angelica Sin). But positive treatments of these issues are now much more the rule. For example, Brazil's Mujeres apasionadas (Passionate Women) deals with the issue of domestic violence in a very different way: It is no longer stigmatized, and its treatment mirrors real life. This, coupled with evening airing hours, has helped the show capture a growing male audience along with the usual females.
The key to success for health messages in telenovelas is to preserve the centrality of the fictional narrative, according to Argentine expert Nora Mazziotti.
"When the story gets lost and the message is not interwoven with the narrative, people don't like it," she says. "The message has to be attractive and easy to understand." She favors an unobtrusive approach akin to for-profit product placement.
"Episodes involving health issues always attract audiences," Mazziotti continues. "Telenovelas definitely educate without trying to, and it's important to take advantage of this potential."
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The program Beck heads, which is supported by the CDC, provides information and consultants to television screenwriters and producers and suggests important health issues that can be included in future episodes. To encourage the practice, the CDC awards an annual Sentinel for Health Award to daily soap operas that "inform, educate and motivate viewers to make choices for healthier and safer lives."
In April in Miami, the First World Summit of the Telenovela Industry, sponsored by TV Más magazine, included health message placement in its agenda. (Since 1995, annual Soap Summits have been held to encourage social and health messages in the U.S. daytime shows.)
"What is really new and positive is the interest that big writers, producers and distributors have in working with health specialists," says Amanda Ospina, editor of TV Más and organizer of the summit. "For these messages to achieve their goal, you have to have joint efforts between all those involved in a show's creation."
Participants in the gathering, which included producers, screenwriters, actors and researchers, were enthusiastic about incorporating salient social themes into their shows. Televisa's Miguel Sabido noted that the number of Hispanics in the U.S. viewing audience is growing and said that they must be better informed about their rights and responsibilities to become a healthier population.
Nearly 35 years have passed since the heroine of Simply Maria arrived alone in the big city with little more than her own hopes. She gave birth to unwanted children, was betrayed by lovers, turned out to have a rich biological father, became an heiress and lived the life of a lover, wife, mother and perpetual victim of those who envied her goodness and beauty. Thirty- five years ago, Maria dared to get an education to improve her lot. Today's telenovela heroines fight for gender equality, for the right to use birth control and to overcome addiction or stigma. While telenovelas' tried-and-true formula may not have changed in more than three decades, their messages about health and life have changed-and continue to change for the better.
Paula Andaló is a journalist in the Public Information Area of the Pan American Health Organization in Washington, DC.
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