ISSN 2660-9037
BETWEEN FICTION AND PASSION. TWO
CENTURIES OF MEXICAN HISTORY
THROUGH THE TELENOVELA*
Gloria de los Ángeles Zarza Rondón**
ABSTRACT
Rethinking the practice of historiography through certain productions, whether on the big or small
screen, has become a topic of common interest in the academic eld. In this sense, this article aims
to study a particular period of Mexican history, from the mid-18th century to the rst decades of
the 20th century, through a specic television genre: the telenovela, a product that, incidentally, has
gradually become one of the most consumed audiovisual products in Latin America.
Keywords:
Telenovela, México, History.
ENTRE LA FICCIÓN Y LA PASIÓN. DOS SIGLOS DE HISTORIA
MEXICANA A TRAVÉS DE LA TELENOVELA
RESUMEN
Repensar la práctica de la historiografía a través de determinadas producciones, ya sea en pantalla
grande o pequeña, ha ido convirtiéndose en un tema de interés común en el ámbito académico. A
partir de este planteamiento, el presente artículo tiene como objeto el estudio de un período con-
creto de la historia mexicana, comprendido entre mediados del siglo XVIII a las primeras décadas
del siglo XX, a través de un género televisivo determinado: la telenovela, un producto que se ha
convertido en uno de los resultados audiovisuales más consumidos en América Latina.
Palabras clave:
Telenovela, México, Historia.
1. INTRODUCTION
The presence of history in the audiovisual media is not a novelty. The re-
presentation of historiography through this format has been proposing the
viewer, for decades, a new way of immersing themselves in past eras. The
* Work presented in Paris, November 14, 2016. Originally published in Spanish in: Gloria de los Ángeles
Zarza Rondón. “Entre la cción y la pasión. Dos siglos de historia mexicana a través de la telenovela”.
Procesos Históricos. Revista de Historia y Ciencias Sociales, 31, enero-junio, 2017, 42-58. Universidad
de Los Andes, Mérida (Venezuela) ISSN 1690-4818
** Gloria de los Ángeles Zarza Rondón. Univrsity of Limoges (France). Doctor in Hispanic Studies (Univer-
sity of Cádiz). hps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1658-5651.
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pp. 240-261. Provincia de Pontevedra - España
Recibido: 05/06/2022
Aceptado: 30/09/2022
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link between audiovisual productions and History was already investigated in
depth by Marc Ferro1, arguing that cinema was a feasible tool to be analyzed
as a source of this discipline, and as such, viable in its teaching2. Starting
from this idea, and following the approach of Charlois Allende3, rethinking
the practice of historiography, not only through cinema, but also through the
television format, has become a topic of common interest, “understanding
that the presence of historical discourse on television is something recu-
rrent”, giving rise to “dierent academics, both from history and from com-
munication, who have set the theme of their investigations in this narrative
crossover” (Charlois, 2011: 131).
Precisely, at this point we place the start of this study; we propose a journey
through Mexican history through a certain television genre: the telenovela. We
will address the issue by drawing up a general outline on the origin and develo-
pment of the telenovela industry in Mexico; and, in a second part, we will focus
attention on the appearance of the historical subgenre and period piece genre
raised in this type of productions, referring to a specic period of the history
of Mexico and the telenovelas that have inspired its plot between the mid-ei-
ghteenth century and the rst decades of the twentieth, approximately 1940.
2. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE TELENOVELA IN
MEXICO
In reference to the origin of this genre, its rst backgrounds are found in
the English sentimental novel of the eighteenth century4, whose development
1 We refer among other publicaons of the author: Ferro, M.: El cine, una visión de la Historia. Akal,
2008, 168 págs; “Perspecvas en torno a las relaciones Historia- Cine, Film- Historia, vol. 1, # 1, 1991,
pp.3-12; “La Historia en el Cine “, Fondo Aleph, Virtual Library of Social Sciences, 2005, pp.3-10.
2 Ferro, M., Cinema and History, Detroit, Wayne University Press, 1986, 29-31 p. Vid. in: Gabriela Jonas
Aharoni, “Telenovelas de época y cine: la intertextualidad como herramienta que construye segmen-
tos de la memoria histórica argenna (1984-2004)”, Nuevo Mundo Mundos Nuevos [Online], Online
since 11 July 2012, connecon on 16 September 2016. To complete the idea, we will point out that:
“cinema is an auxiliary source to the extent that it is considered that through the historical reading of
a lm, whether it is documentaries, newsreels or con lms, we can be carry out a counter-analysis
of the society that produces it”.
3 Charlois Allende, A. J.: “De la historia de la telenovela a la telenovela histórica. Las características del
formato de la telenovela a través del desarrollo de la industria televisiva”. Folios, Journal of the Faculty
of Communications of the University of Antioquía. # 26, 2011, p.s.129- 150.
4 León Valdez, R.: “La telenovela histórica en México: apuntes para la construcción de un proyecto con
“benecio social La telenovela histórica en México: apuntes para la construcción de un proyecto con
“benecio social La telenovela histórica en México: apuntes para la construcción de un proyecto con
“benecio social “. Muldisciplina, # 18, 2014, p.s.123-147. The author points out as precursors of
the senmental novel the wrings of Samuel Richardson and his work
Pamela,
in 1740; Juan Jacobo
Rousseau and
La Nueva Eloísa
in 1761; Laurence Sterne with
Senmental Journey;
or
Pablo y Virginia,
de
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was part of the Romantic Movement where the high emotional content pre-
sented by its plots prevailed5. Also, in the nineteenth century, the marked sen-
timental trend and its “deliberate attraction to cause readers to cry” (León,
2014:126). As a “complement” to this sentimental novel, we must point out
the initiative on the part of newspapers, in countries such as France, England
or the United States, to publish some of these stories in magazines, gazettes
and newspapers6, broken down into chapters7. However, the most direct back-
ground of the telenovela, as we know it today, was the radio soap opera, which
emerged in 1926 in the United States in the heat of the growing radio industry.
It was then that dierent manufacturers’ rms, through advertising agencies,
began to sponsor this type of program (Barrón, 2009: 79). The patrons of the-
se radio broadcasts were mostly engaged in the manufacture of soaps and
cleaning products for housewives who listened to the radio while performing
household chores. This is how well-known brands (Colgate Palmolive, Peet,
etc.) became interested in the initiative, giving rise to the term Soap Opera, to
name this type of melodramatic radio program8 that, under the “protection
of soap”, would end up moving to the television format with the same name9.
In Mexico, the rst radio soap operas began to be heard in the late thir-
ties10, reaching a large number of listeners with stories such as
El derecho de
Bernardino de Saint- Pierre in 1788.
5 It was a melodrama that basically consisted of having a protagonist, an antagonist and an hindered love
that nally emerges victorious. Reyes de la Maza, L.: Crónica de la telenovela I: México Senmental. México,
Editorial Clío, 1999, p. 10. Vid. in: Barrón Domínguez, L.: Mexican Telenovela Industry: process of communi-
caon, documentaon and commercializaon. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2009, p. 78
6 Ibidem, p. 127. “The stories that addressed this genre showed heroines who lived situaons of roman-
ce, acon, drama, and suspense where the highlight was a scene of intrigue that kept the reader in a
state of expectaon to know what the outcome would be”.
7 Barrón Domínguez, L.:
La industria de la telenovela mexicana: procesos de comunicación, documentación y
comercialización.
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2009, p.s. 78-79.
8 They also acted as sponsors represenng brands of cereals, beverages or medicines, as the radio soap opera
became an eecve method to promote their products. León Valdez, R.: “La telenovela histórica en México:
apuntes para la construcción de un proyecto con “benecio social”.
Muldisciplina,
# 18, 2014, p. 127.
9 At rst, the iniave to transfer these stories to the audiovisual format did not arouse great interest
among the producers, since it was thought that for most of the listeners (mainly women), the novelty
would not be well received. The explanaon was simple: the radio could be part of the daily acvies
of housewives, that is, listening to the radio soap operas while performing daily tasks did not suppose
any kind of distracon; however, the new soap opera format required momentarily abandoning do-
mesc acvies. However, the rst incursion of the radio novel into the audiovisual eld was carried
out in the United States in 1950, with the television melodrama entled:
The First Hundred Years,
obtai-
ning an audience ranking that reached almost four million viewers. Ibid., p. 128.
10 Following the idea of Marn Barbero, we will point out that the aforemenoned “newspaper novel or
saga” typical of the nineteenth century, was introduced in Cuba through the readings that were made
in the tobacco factories while the workers carried out their work. Apparently, from there the model
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nacer
(Right to be born) (1938) or
Anita de Montemar
(1941)11. However, in the
mid-twentieth century, the splendor of radio soap operas began to decline
due to the arrival of television, and with it the takeo of the audiovisual re-
presentation of this genre.
The initial stage of the Mexican telenovela begins with the appearance of the
national television industry from the fties12, beginning to emerge and shape in
the 60s through the so-called “teleteatro”, where we not only nd the adapta-
tion of classic authors works translated into Spanish, but also the conversion of
the old radio soap operas to the television format. The aforementioned radio
soap opera
Anita de Montemar
of 1941, is transferred to the small screen in 1967
with the same title; the same goes for stories such as
La Mentira,
whose radio
version premiered in 1952 and its television namesake in 1965; Cristina, a 1954
radio soap opera adapted for television in 1962 as
Encadenada;
or
Corazón Salvaje,
broadcasted in 1955 and televised with the same title in 196613.
These rst telenovelas are already beginning to present a series of cha-
racteristics of the genre, diering from the so-called American Soap Opera,
both in duration and narrative structure. While the American has an average
was taken for the radio producon of serial stories, many of whose tles were moved to Mexico in
television format. Marn Barbero, Jesús and Muñoz, Sonia (Coord.):
Televisión y melodrama. Géneros y
lecturas de la telenovela en Colombia
. Tercer Mundo Ediciones, Bogotá, 1992. Vid. in Charlois Allende,
A. J.: “De la historia de la telenovela a la telenovela histórica. Las caracteríscas del formato de la
telenovela a través del desarrollo de la industria televisiva”. Folios, Journal of the Faculty of Communi-
caons of the University of Anoquía. # 26, 2011, p. 133.
11 Barrón Domínguez, L.:
La industria de la telenovela mexicana: procesos de comunicación, documentación y
comercialización
. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2009, p.79.
12 The rst television channel in Mexico was XHTV, operaonal as early as 1950 and owned by Rómulo
O’Farril. That same year, Mexican engineer Guillermo González Camarena was granted the concession
of a new channel, Channel 5, known as XHGC; and in 1951, it began broadcasng a third channel,
which was assigned the acronym of XEW TV, owned by Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta. In 1955, the three
staons merged into a single audiovisual medium, giving rise to the so-called company Telesistema
Mexicano S. A. de C.V., direct background of one of the main Mexican audiovisual companies: Televisa,
also a precursor of the telenovela in Mexico. The aforemenoned Telesistema Mexicano began to
bear fruit through a system of repeaters, and the television signal expanded throughout the Mexican
territory, becoming the rst naonal television staon and reaching coverage in the 32 states between
1955 and 1968. León Valdez, René: “La telenovela histórica en México: apuntes para la construcción
de un proyecto con “benecio social”.
Muldisciplina,
# 18, 2014, p. 129.
13 On June 6, 1958, when the rst Mexican telenovela considered as such appeared. It was
Senda Prohi-
bida,
whose former radio producon had been the story wrien by Fernanda Villeli. The importance
of this tle lies in the fact that
Senda Prohibida
already has the characteriscs of a telenovela as such:
it consists of chapters with sequences between each one, importance of suspense at the end of each
chapter, and is transmied through a television channel, in addion to having certain adversing
sponsorships. Barrón Domínguez, Lecia: La industria de la telenovela mexicana: procesos de comu-
nicación, documentación y comercialización. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2009, p. 86.
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length, remaining on screen even years, the Mexican ranges between 90 and
120 chapters approximately, with exceptions at certain times. On the other
hand, the narrative structure has in the Mexican case a less open ending;
these are stories that aect melodrama and endings that claim the reward
for the suering of their protagonists throughout the plot14. In the same way,
another of the characteristics of these rst Mexican telenovelas is the em-
phasis on love relationships, beyond the reection of everyday life and the
approach to deeper problems (Orozco, 2006: 21).
They also had a specic audience, women, especially housewives, and
their plot revolved around the future of their protagonists and martyrs,
women who personied roles ranging from seless mothers, to Cinderella,
naive damsels, and even villains. The recordings of these initial telenovelas
were made live until the inclusion of the videotape in 1965, which lowered
production costs and began the rst exports of telenovelas to other Latin
American countries. Already between 1965 and 1967, the time slot dedica-
ted to telenovelas was raised from two to three and a half hours a day, in
response to the remarkable audience that they were acquiring.
Also in this decade, new subgenres of melodrama begin to appear, among
them, the historical telenovela, such as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz; they also
begin to stand out among other authors, who would become one of the main
virtuosos of the telenovela genre, Caridad Bravo Adams15. Likewise, and as can
be seen in the table that we reproduce at the end of this study16, most of the
Mexican telenovelas of this time were produced by Ernesto Alonso (precursor
of the so-called historical telenovela with the screenwriter Miguel Sabido) and
14 Orozco Gómez, G.: “La telenovela en México: de una expresión cultural a un simple producto de
markeng? New Epoch, # 6, 2006, pp. 11-35.
15 She is one of the most prolic Mexican writers in terms of the creaon of stories that were adapted
to the format of the telenovela, and whose plots have been covered on more than one occasion and
at dierent mes. Under her authorship, there are such well-known tles as:
La menra
(adapted as
a telenovela not only in Mexico, but also in Brazil, Venezuela or the United States under the tle of
La
menra, El amor nunca muere, Calúnia, El Juramento, Coraçòes Feridos, Cuando me enamoro
o
Lo imperdo-
nable
).
Yo no creo en los hombres
(versionada hasta cuatro veces en México, una de ellas con el tulo
Velo de novia
).
La intrusa, Pecado mortal, Abrázame muy fuerte, Que te perdone Dios, Laberintos de pasión,
Corazón que miente; the “hyper versioned”, both in telenovela and lm format Corazón Salvaje, Orgullo de
mujer, El enemigo, Adiós Amor mío, Mas allá del corazón, Cita con la muerte, Crisna Guzmán, Sueña conmigo
Donaji, Más fuerte que el odio, Amor en el desierto, Lo prohibido, Deborah, La desconocida, Águeda, Crisna,
El precio de un hombre, La hiena, Aprendiendo a amar, Alma y carne, Bodas de odio
(remade three mes in
Mexico, the rst retaining in the same tle and the other two as
Amor Real
y
Lo que la vida me robó
);
Herencia maldita, Al pie del altar or Una sombra entre los dos.
16 Summary-Table with the main characteriscs of the historical and period telenovelas selected to de-
velop this arcle are synthesized.
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represented a good part of the protagonists actresses such as Carmen Mon-
tejo, Maricruz Olivier or Spaniard actress Amparo Rivelles (Barrón, 2009: 90).
Continuing the chronological development, the decade of the seventies
represented for Mexican telenovela the beginning of the consolidation of
the genre; exports increased, telenovelas were imported from Peru or Vene-
zuela, with titles such as
Simplemente María
or
Cristal,
and successful foreign
telenovelas began to be adapted that in turn became an exportable Mexican
product. It even increased in the number of chapters per telenovela, as well
as the dierent subgenres within it continued to rise: the children’s telenove-
la (
Mundo de juguete
, 1974) or the didactic kind (
Ven conmigo,
1975), which pro-
moted literacy in the country). Along with this, the arrival of color television,
which dyed nuances and details that was progressively becoming one of the
most consumed television products in the country.
From the eighties onwards, the consolidation of telenovela in Mexico will
be a constant. Exports increased to 80 per cent between 1982 and 1983,
representing, in addition, between eighteen and twenty-two thousand hours
of broadcast per year. The countries of Eastern Europe were becoming a
favorite export area; the subgenres of the telenovela multiplied, appearing
the police telenovela with titles such as
Cuna de Lobos
(1986); horror soap
operas, such as
El malecio
(1983); and great successes began to occur both
nationally and internationally, embodied among others by stories such as
Los ricos también lloran
or
Muchachita
(Barrón, 2009: 97). Likewise, the tele-
novela ceased to be an exclusive product for women, trying to capture new
audiences with themes aimed at men and young people, emerging the so-ca-
lled telenovelas of “social content” (outlined in the middle of the seventies),
which through habitual stories tried to inuence the social life of Mexico17.
Accompanying and endorsing the resounding success of the telenovela, the
number of viewers was increasing, to such an extent that, following the esti-
mates of IBOPE18, one of the telenovelas we will refer to later, (possibly one of
the Mexican telenovela with most adapted versions)
Corazón Salvaje,
issued in
17 Charlois Allende, A. J.: “De la historia de la telenovela a la telenovela histórica. Las caracteríscas del
formato de la telenovela a través del desarrollo de la industria televisiva”. Folios, Journal of the Faculty
of Communicaons of the University of Anoquía. # 26, 2011, pp. 138- 139.
18 IBOPE corresponds to the acronym of the
Brazilian Instute of Public Opinion and Stascs,
a Mexican
subsidiary in charge of measuring the audience in the Valley of Mexico, through the People meter
system, small transmiers installed on the television that allow to know in which channel the device
is tuned. In: Aguilar Díaz, Miguel A., Rosas Mantecón Ana and Vázquez Mantecón, Verónica: “Teleno-
velas: la cción que se llama realidad”.
Políca y Cultura,
# 4, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana
Unidad Xochimilco, 1995, pp. 173- 185.
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1993, reached a weekly average of about 40 points, which would be equiva-
lent to more than six million inhabitants of the Metropolitan area of the Va-
lley of Mexico (Brazilian Institute of Public Opinion and Statistics
, 1995: 174).
3. ABOUT REALITY, FICTION AND PASSION. A MEXICAN
STORY THROUGH THE TELENOVELA
As noted in the previous section, in the sixties new subgenres of melo-
drama started to appear, among which the so-called historical telenovela
stood out, mainly sponsored by the tandem formed by Ernesto Alonso in the
production and direction, and Miguel Sabido in the script work19. Gradually,
and always aiming to contribute to the social function of entertainment, this
type of story began, not only to promote cultural and nationalist interest, but
even came to have government sponsorship (León, 2014: 132).
In this way, and once presented the telenovelas’ format in which we will
focus, we must point out an important aspect that will mark the development
of this epigraph. Starting from the subgenre of telenovela that proposes in its
plot the development of a historical content, we will dierentiate between the
historical telenovela itself, and the period telenovela. In this sense, the histo-
rical telenovela, as its name suggests, narrates a specic period of History (of
Mexico in this case), or the biography of a relevant character, to which are ad-
ded a series of ctional characters, whose loves and heartbreaks develop wi-
thin the plot. We could say then, that the ctional story adapts to the historical
reality that is intended to be shown. For its part, the period telenovela, recrea-
tes moments of the past, locating itself in an “indeterminate” point of History,
whose object is none other than to adapt it to the ctional plot it presents. It is
a type of novel that puts the emphasis on details: costumes, furniture, setting
and all those accessories and elements of the period that is intended to re-
create, but where historical rigor passes to a second or third level.
4. MEXICAN HISTORY THROUGH PERIOD TELENOVELA,
SERIES AND MOVIES (1956-2011)
Thus, delimited both concepts, it remains only to delve into Mexican his-
tory through the 33 productions selected for this study20, and that were is-
19 Both authors were part of the project called Weekly Telenovela. It was a series of short stories (about
ve chapters each) whose success lay precisely in the brevity of the arguments and the quality of
the stories, developing the rst soap operas recreated and inspired by past eras. León Valdez, R.: “La
telenovela histórica en México: apuntes para la construcción de un proyecto con “benecio social”.
Muldisciplina,
# 18, 2014, pp. 129- 130.
20 It is about 29 telenovelas, 2 TV series and 2 movies.
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sued in the country between 1956 and 2011. To do this, we will follow the
chronological order posed by the stories, pointing out that a good part of
them belong to the model of a period telenovela and, therefore, they do not
specify exactly their historical location. However, most of them refer throu-
ghout their plot to some fact, event, detail or historical character that has
allowed us to locate them in a relatively successful time.
We begin our journey from the second half of the eighteenth century. The
telenovelas
Pasión
and
Alborada,
in both starring the same actor, the Mexican
Fernando Colunga. They present a plot that, judging by the setting, the cha-
racterization of its characters, as well as the allusion to certain elements such
as Inquisition, the mention of the gure of the Viceroy, or the representation
of the most classic piracy (in addition to the reference to the “droit de seig-
neur”), make us place it at this point in Mexican history. Both represent clear
examples of the so-called
period telenovela,
where the importance does not lie
in the narration of historical events, but in the development of the dierent
stories in which their characters are involved, paying special attention to the
love relationship of the protagonist couple.
The following two telenovelas propose a dierent image:
Los Caudillos
and
La antorcha encendida
21, moving us to a specic and identiable period
in the history of Mexico: the background and development of the indepen-
dence process, as well as the decline of New Spain in the face of insurgent
uprisings22. However, it should be note that while the plot of
Los Caudillos
,
although faithful to historical events, focuses much of its attention on the
sentimental evolution of the protagonist,
La antorcha encendida
, gives special
importance to the real historical characters, especially to the gure of the
priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, without neglecting the dierent love stories,
heartbreak, jealousy and intrigue. Likewise, it recreates with enough delity
certain historical events23 of the time, highlighting sequences such as the
21 Considered the last historical telenovela produced by Televisa in 1996. With it, the project iniated
by Ernesto Alonso is closed. Alonso, producer of this story, wanted to make known through television
the most important events in the history of Mexico recreang facts and characters, real and conal
that consolidated the telenovela industry in Mexico against other powers that began to be part of the
telenovela producon market. León Valdez, R.: “La telenovela histórica en México: apuntes para la
construcción de un proyecto con “benecio social”.
Muldisciplina,
# 18, 2014, p. 142.
22 We point out in the summary table, aached at the end of the arcle, the broadcast of a television series:
Gritos de Muerte y Libertad
(13 chapters) where, leaving aside the usual melodrama in telenovelas, we proceed
to recreate the historical events immediately prior to the independence process and the course of this.
23 José Manuel Villalpando was part in the producon of
La antorcha encendida
as a historical advisor,
having previously ventured into this eld and being responsible for the historical research of the te-
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well-known
Grito de Dolores
or the takeover of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas on
September 28, 181024.
Next, titles such as
The Mummies of Guanajuato
or
Legends of Mexico,
both
produced by Ernesto Alonso in the sixties, place us in what could well be the
transition between colonial Mexico and the nineteenth-century period. It is
true that its historical location is not precisely determined, but it does seem
to adapt to those two times. The rst of them,
Las Momias de Guanajuato
(1962)
presents us with an argument that revolves around the life stories of the bo-
dies that ended up being petried. It not only exposes love plots, but also
drama and horror, themes shared with
Leyendas de Mexico
(1968). In the latter,
mysterious legends of the colonial era are reproduced, such as:
“La Llorona”, “El
callejón del beso”, “La mulata de Córdoba”,
or
“Doña Beatriz, La Sinventura”
25.
Then, the next batch of telenovelas is again framed in the “period” novel
model:
Corazón Salvaje, Amor Real, Ramona
, and
El Zorro: la espada y la rosa,
place
us in the course of the new Mexican Republic. In this sense, the version of
Corazón Salvaje
of the year 2009 sets its plot in Veracruz around 1850; the
historical references, with greater or lesser precision, are not remarkable,
apart from proposing as an incentive the beautiful images of the location, or
the pretended setting of its scenes and characters. However, the argument
revolves only around the comings and goings of the protagonist love triangle.
Similar characteristics arise the productions
Amor Real, Ramona
and
El Zo-
rro: la espada y la rosa.
The rst,
Amor Real,
refers to some “historical notes”,
especially when mentioning certain characters in Mexican history. It refers to
Juan Álvarez, the Alliance for Progress party, and its leader, Pedro Baranda.
The protagonist of the plot, Manuel Fuentes Guerra, born from the rape of
an Indian woman at the hands of the owner of a hacienda, seems to be in
lenovela produced two years earlier, in 1994, with the tle of El vuelo del águila, the dramazed
adaptaon of the biography of Porrio Díaz.
24 We do not want to miss the opportunity to transcribe “the talk” of Father Hidalgo in the so-called
“Grito de Dolores” at 5 a.m. on September 16, 1810: (…)
We take up arms to take away the command
of the gachupines, who have surrendered to the French and want us, the Americans, to suer the same fate,
which we will never consent. (...) We must save our holy religion from the wicked, end the privileges of the
gachupines that have done us so much damage. Look at the hungry face, the rags, and the sad condion in
which they live (…) because we are the owners of these lands... Long live independence, long live America, die
bad government, die gachupines.
This sequence belongs to chapter 39 (1-4) of the telenovela.
25 As we have explained, these stories made menon of “the popular councils that happened during the
period of New Spain”, and were starred by “souls in sorrow, sinister characters who lurked in the dark,
or slaves who escaped in ships drawn on the wall”. León Valdez, R.:
“La telenovela histórica en México:
apuntes para la construcción de un proyecto con “benecio social”.
Muldisciplina, # 18, 2014, p. 131.
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favor of what in the soap opera is called the “army of the people’s party”, de-
fender of the suppression of the privileges of the ruling class of the country.
This telenovela could therefore be placed in the mid-nineteenth century.
The chronological environment is clearer in
Ramona.
This production is
presented to us as a love story located in California after the Treaty of Gua-
dalupe Hidalgo, right on the border between Mexico and the New Northern
State. Years after the border war between Mexico and the United States, the
quarrels and conicts over the possession of land continued in force. In that
context, the love was born between
Ramona,
daughter of the wealthy Moreno
Gonzaga family, Mexicans who resolve to stay to live in California, and
Alejan-
dro,
an indigenous member of the Yahís tribe.
Similar geographical location presents the telenovela
El Zorro, la espada y la
rosa,
a Colombian-American production linked to the history of Mexico. Its plot
is set in the city of Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles, and exposes part of the life
of Diego de la Vega, whose true identity is that of the well-known hero “El Zorro”.
The historical references follow one another; San Martín and Bolívar are
spoken of as contemporaries. However, we nd again the main feature of the
period telenovela; the historical recreation is nothing but the “backdrop” that
adapts to the ctional plot of its characters.
Continuing the chronological development of Mexican history through the
telenovela, it is the turn of three productions that, although it is not the specic
objective of our study, well deserve a more complete investigation of the his-
torical approach they propose. These are
La Tormenta
(1967),
Maximiliano and
Carlota
(1965), and
El Carruaje
(1972). The rst of them, La Tormenta, is conside-
red an excellent historical production that exposes the history of Mexico be-
tween the promulgation of the Constitution of 1857, and the outbreak of the
Revolution in 1910 (León, 2014: 134), paying special attention to the period of
government of Benito Juárez. Along with the recreation of the historical facts,
this telenovela includes in its plot the theme of indigenism and miscegenation,
being its protagonist an Indian originally from Oaxaca who, after learning to
read and write, decides to join the army of Juárez. Obviously, the argument is
accompanied by the everlasting love relationships that characterize the genre,
even more when
La Tormenta
extends its history for more than 30 years.
The second telenovela presents a dierent nuance,
Maximiano y Carlota,
released in 1965. This production romantically recreates the history of the
emperors of Mexico who ruled at the time of confrontations between con-
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servatives and liberals. However, despite the fact that the love story was suc-
cessful, the treatment that the telenovela gave to certain historical gures,
made even the Mexican government itself express a clear disagreement. The
disagreements occurred due to the way Benito Juárez’s character was pre-
sented. To illustrate this, we reproduce verbatim the following quote:
The telenovela was an immense success in telling the romantic story of
two deluded princes, whose only sin was to love each other in the land of
Indians (...) In this case, the villain whose evil opposes these loves to the point
of sending the Austrian Quetzalcoatl to the wall was the very “Benemérito de
las Américas”, Benito Juárez (León Valdez, 2014: 134)26.
However, redemption came a few years later, in 1972, when the telenovela
El Carruaje
premiered, the rst historical telenovela in color where, again, the
plot places us during the government of Juárez; this time, from a very dierent
perspective. The years of the War of Reform mark the evolution of this produc-
tion when Juárez, prevented from establishing his legitimate government in
Mexico, must move to the north of the country in a carriage, carrying with him
the documentation that conrmed him as eective president. In this case, the
critics were much more benevolent, praising the image that was represented
of one of the most outstanding characters in Mexican history.
The next historiographical stage could be placed at the beginning of the
government of Porrio Díaz, from the seventies and eighties of the ninete-
enth century.
Titles such as
Alondra, Los plateados,
some versions of
Corazón Salvaje
, espe-
cially the one of 1993,
Bodas de Odio, Pueblo chico inerno grande, Azul tequila
and
Yo compro esa mujer,
they tended to draw inspiration from this period to recrea-
te their melodramas. Now, the one that does clearly raise its argument during
the years of the Porriato, is
El Vuelo del Águila,
since it is the dramatized bio-
graphy of its main protagonist, Porrio Díaz, and his rise to power for 30 years.
As part of the plot, and with various historical advisors, it represents with
some veracity, real events such as: the War of Reform, the battle of May 5 in Pue-
bla or the
Decena Trágica.
However, also in this case the telenovela received harsh
26 León Valdez refers in its quotaon to: Soto, 2011, p. 244. Apparently, the head of the Ministry of In-
ternal Aairs, Mario Moya Palencia, along with presgious historians, expressed their rejecon of the
handling of the character of Juárez, conceived as a villain for sending Maximiliano to be shot, without
disclosing the true reasons behind this acon. So much that, Ernesto Alonso as producer, along with
Miguel Alemán, were sent to call by President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, to make clear their annoyance at
the perverse recreaon that had been made of Benito Juárez in the telenovela.
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criticism; especially those that pointed out that the character of Porrio Díaz
had been shown from an only positive point in relation to the actions he carried
out during his mandate. It was even argued that “the telenovela responded to
commercial and not cultural interests” (León, 2014: 141). Also set in the Porrist
stage is the telenovela
La Constitución,
premiered in 1970, coinciding with the an-
niversary of the promulgation of the Political Constitution of the United States of
Mexico. Its history recreates the precarious and exploitative living conditions in
which the indigenous people lived, as well as the need to establish a constitution
that would establish the rights of Mexicans (León, 2014: 136).
And at this point in the study, we will nish the analysis by referring the
two telenovelas that will conclude our journey through the history of Mexico.
It is the “pack” formed by the productions
La Tierra and Senda de Gloria.
The
rst of them issued in 1974, focused on the course of the so-called
Cristeros
War in Mexico during the government of Plutarco Elías; regarding the se-
cond,
Senda de Gloria,
covers the historical period located between 1917 and
1940 through a series of personal and family plots adapted to the time, with
the clear intention of “linking the viewer with the national plot”27.
It begins with a brief allusion to the outbreak of the Revolution in 1910, the
assassination of Madero and the struggle initiated by Emiliano Zapata, Fran-
cisco Villa and Venustiano Carranza against Huerta government. The dierent
melodramatic plots, headed by the protagonist couple, Andrea Álvarez and
Manuel Fortuna, she was rich and he was poor, are happening and adapting to
the historical evolution of the country after the Revolution, linking with histori-
cal characters and events that marked post-revolutionary Mexico.
5. CONCLUSION
Finally, as a conclusion, we compile a series of ideas developed throu-
ghout the article highlighting, in the rst place, the one that considers the
audiovisual format, whether lm or television, as one of the platforms from
which past eras can be recreated. In this sense, and supported mainly by the
progressive success of the telenovela in Mexico, the new television format
became a viable tool to remember the past following a certain line of action.
On the one hand, the historical telenovela born shortly after the takeo of
this genre and, secondly, the period telenovela.
27 Charlois Allende, A. J.:
“De la historia de la telenovela a la telenovela histórica. Las caracteríscas del formato
de la telenovela a través del desarrollo de la industria televisiva”.
Folios, Journal of the Faculty of Commu-
nicaons of the University of Anoquía. #26, 2011, p. 145.
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As we have seen, the subgenre of historical telenovela as it is, will know
its period of splendor in the last three decades of the twentieth century. Pro-
ductions such as
El Carruaje, La Constitución, El vuelo del Águila, La Tierra
or
Senda
de Gloria,
preceded by those rst stories among which
Los Caudillos
or
Las mo-
mias de Guanajuato
stood out, tried to recreate, with more or less delity, a
specic historical period of Mexican history. Its ctional plots were adapted
and accompanied the historical events of the country. However, alongside the
historical telenovela, the development of the period subgenre also printed its
own character, where melodrama itself was the main objective. The historical
recreation was little more than the setting from which the plot developed, and
consequently, the historical rigor could not be counted as an incentive. This is
how we have seen it through titles such as:
Corazón Salvaje, El Zorro, la espada y
la rosa, Azul Tequila, Alborada, Pasión
or
Pueblo chico inerno grande.
In any case, there is no doubt that the recreation of the History of Mexi-
co, carried out by the telenovela genre, has contributed to the representa-
tion of dierent proposals; and beyond the delity sought to real historical
events, it has developed a certain model through which History can enter our
lives with a single “click”.
REFERENCES
Aguilar Díaz, Miguel Ángel., Rosas Mantecón Ana and Vázquez Mantecón,
Verónica. (1995).
“Telenovelas: la cción que se llama realidad”.
Política y Cul-
tura, # 4, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Xochimilco, pp.
173- 185.
Barrón Domínguez, Leticia. (2009).
La industria de la telenovela mexicana: proce-
sos de comunicación, documentación y comercialización.
Universidad Complu-
tense de Madrid, Madrid.
Charlois Allende, Adrien José. (2011).
“De la historia de la telenovela a la telenovela
histórica. Las características del formato de la telenovela a través del desarrollo de
la industria televisiva”
. Folios, Journal of the Faculty of Communications
of the University of Antioquía. # 26, pp.129- 150.
Cueva, Álvaro, Estrada, Carla, Garnica Alejandro, Jara, Rubén, López, Heriber-
to, Orozco, Guillermo. (2011).
Telenovelas en México. Nuestras íntimas extrañas.
Grupo Delphi, México.
CUEVA, Álvaro. (1998).
Lágrimas de cocodrilo: historia mínima de las telenovelas en
México.
Editorial Tres Lunas, México.
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Ferro, Marc. (2008).
El cine, una visión de la Historia.
Akal, edition, Madrid.
León Valdez, René. (2014).
“La telenovela histórica en México: apuntes para la cons-
trucción de un proyecto con “benecio social”.
Multidisciplina, #. 18, pp.123-
147.
Martín Barbero, Jesús and Muñoz, Sonia. (1992).
Televisión y melodrama. Géne-
ros y lecturas de la telenovela en Colombia.
Tercer Mundo Ediciones, Bogotá.
Orozco Gómez, Guillermo. (2006).
“La telenovela en México: ¿de una expresión
cultural a un simple producto de mercadotecnia?
Nueva época, # 6, pp. 11-35.
Reyes De La Maza, Luis. (1999).
Crónica de la telenovela I: México Sentimental.
Editorial Clío, México.
Web Sources
http://www.ilovetelenovelas.com/telenovela/pasion (12/11/2016)
http://cinicosdesinope.com/cine-y-series/asi-esta-el-elenco-de-la-novela-al-
borada-en-la-actualidad/ (12/11/2016)
https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/filmimages.php?movie_id=528786
(7/11/2016)
http://www.sepanlotodos.info/2010/09/la-historia-de-mexico-en-imagenes-
del.html (7/11/2016)
http://www.telenowele.fora.pl/televisa,71/el-carruaje-televisa-1972,25452.
html (7/11/2016)
http://www.abandomoviez.net/indie/pelicula.php?lm=11885 (7/11/2016)
http://www.network54.com/Forum/223031/message/1039318240/*%-
26quot%3BCoraz%C3%B3n+salvaje%26quot%3B*(M%C3%A9xi-
co,+1966)* (7/11/2016)
https://www.suggest-keywords.com/Y29yYXpvbiBzYWx2YWplIDE5NjY/
(7/11/2016)
http://www.miblogdecineytv.com/2010/01/corazon-salvaje/ (7/11/2016)
http://seriesadicto.com/serie/corazon-salvaje (7/11/2016)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1522468/ (7/11/2016)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amor_real (7/11/2016)
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https://www.mundolatino.ru/forum/php/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=13021&s-
tart=60 (7/11/2016)
http://www.todotnv.com/%E2%80%98pueblo-chico-infierno-gran-
de%E2%80%99-llega-a-rcn.html (7/11/2016)
http://derecuerdos.blogspot.fr/2011/02/yo-compro-esa-mujer.html
(7/11/2016)
http://mistelenovelasfavoritas.com/store/home/241-ramona-dvd.html
(7/11/2016)
http://www.lmanity.com/es/lm243760.html (7/11/2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An2aftWLXt0 (7/11/2016)
http://mastelenovelas.org/azul-tequila.html (7/11/2016)
Table1.- Summary table “Main characteristics of the historical and period telenovelas”.
Title Gender Period Broadcast Production Chapters
Pasión Telenovela Colonial-
1740/50 2007 Carla Estrada/ Televisa 95- 115
Alborada Telenovela Colonial 2005 María Zarattini / Televisa 90
Los Caudi-
llos Telenovela 1790-1811 1968 Ernesto Alonso
Telesistema Mexicano
(Televisa)
---
La antorcha
encendida Telenovela 1785 a 1811 1996 Ernesto Alonso / Te-
levisa 140 National
70 Inter.
Gritos de
Muerte y
Libertad
TV Series Colonial- in-
dependence 2010 Leopoldo Goméz
Televisa 13
Las momias
de Guana-
juato
Telenovela Colonial 1962 Ernesto AlonsoT. Mexi-
cano
Leyendas de
México Telenovela Colonial 1968 Ernesto Alonso /T. Mexi-
cano 30
Los bandi-
dos de Río
Frío
Telenovela 1810/1830 1976 Televisa
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Title Gender Period Broadcast Production Chapters
Corazón
Salvaje Telenovela 1850 2009 Salvador Mejía / Televisa 135
Amor Real Telenovela 1850 2003
/2004 Carla Estrada /Televisa 95
Ramona Telenovela 1847/1850 2000 Lucy Orozco /Televisa 74
El Zorro: la
espada y la
rosa
Telenovela
(Colombia) XIX 2007 Hugo León
RTI Producciones
Sony Pictures Telemun-
do
112
La tormenta Telenovela 1857-1910 1967 Miguel Alemán /T. Mexi-
cano 91
Maximiliano
y Carlota Telenovela 1864- 1867 1965 Ernesto Alonso /Televisa 50
El carruaje Telenovela 1867 1972 Miguel Alemán /Televisa 44
Alondra Telenovela Fin XIX 1995 Carla Estrada /Televisa 76
Santa Telenovela Fin XIX 1978 Miguel Sabido /Televisa ---
Los platea-
dos Telenovela 1900 2005 Marcelo Mejía /Tele-
mundo 148
Azul tequila Telenovela 1860- 1870 1998 TV Azteca /ZUBA 160
Pueblo chico
inerno
grande
Telenovela Fin. XIX 1997 Ernesto Hernández /
Televisa 150
Corazón
Salvaje Telenovela 1900 1993 José Rendón /Televisa 160
Bodas de
odio Telenovela 1905- 1919 1983 Ernesto Alonso /Televisa 150
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Title Gender Period Broadcast Production Chapters
Juan del
Diablo -Movie - 1900 1956
Corazón
Salvaje Movie 1900 1968
Juan del
Diablo Telenovela 1900 1966/
Puerto Rico Telemundo
Corazón
Salvaje Telenovela 1900 1966 Ernesto Alonso, T. Mexi-
cano 62
Corazón
Salvaje Telenovela 1900 1977 Ernesto Alonso /Televisa 168
Yo compro
esa mujer Telenovela 1900 1990 Ernesto Alonso /Televisa 160
La Constitu-
ción Telenovela 1900 1970 Ernesto Alonso, Miguel
Alemán
T. Mexicano
84
El vuelo del
águila Telenovela Porriato 1994 Ernesto Alonso /Televisa 140
El encanto
del Águila TV Series 1910-1928 2011 Leopoldo Gómez /
Televisa 13
La tierra Telenovela 1920-1930 1974 Ernesto Alonso /Televisa 99
Senda de
Gloria Telenovela 1917- 1940 1987 Ernesto Alonso /Televisa 135
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ANNEX OF IMAGES:
Pasión / Alborada
Web source: www.ilovetelenovelas.com/telenovela/pasion
Web source: www.cinicosdesinope.com/cine-y-series/asi-esta-el-elenco-de-la-no-
vela-alborada-en-laactualidad
La antorcha encendida
Web source: www.lmanity.com/es/lmimages.php?movie_id=528786
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Dierent adaptations of Corazón Salvaje (lms and soap opera between 1956 and
2009)
Web source: www.abandomoviez.net/indie/pelicula.php?lm=11885
Web source: www.network54.com/Forum/
Web source: www.suggest-keywords.com/Y29yYXpvbiBzYWx2YWplIDE5NjY/
Web source: www.miblogdecineytv.com/2010/01/corazon-salvaje/
Web source: seriesadicto.com/serie/corazon-salvaje
Web source: www.imdb.com/title/tt1522468/
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Maximiliano y Carlota/ El Carruaje
Web source: www.sepanlotodos.info/2010/09/la-historia-de-mexico-en-imagenes-del.html
Web source www.telenowele.fora.pl/televisa,71/el-carruaje-televisa-1972,25452.html
Amor Real/Bodas de odio
Web source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Amor_real
Web source: www.mundolatino.ru/forum/php/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=13021&s-
tart=60
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Pueblo chico Inerno grande/ Yo compro esa mujer
Web source: www.todotnv.com/%E2%80%98pueblo-chico-inerno-gran-
de%E2%80%99-I llega-arcn.html
Web source: www.derecuerdos.blogspot.fr/2011/02/yo-compro-esa-mujer.html
Ramona/ El vuelo del águila
Web source: mistelenovelasfavoritas.com/store/home/241-ramona-dvd.html
Web source: www.lmafnity.com/es/lm243760.html
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Senda de Gloria/ Azul tequila
Web source: www.youtube.com/watch?v=An2aftWLXt0
Web source: mastelenovelas.org/azul-tequila.html
