When Attempts at Social Good Can Get Annoying

                                                     Photo Credit: Schmilblick (Flickr)

Yes, novelas do reach millions of viewers every day. Yes, this gives them the opportunity to influence their viewers in a positive way. But when novela writers take it upon themselves to solve the world or teach their viewers moral lesson time and time again, that’s where I draw the line.

While I have no problem seeing novelas dealing with real issues as a means to educate their audiences, I do have a problem when their good intentions ruin the plot. In the past, I have watched as novelas deal with homophobia, addictions, interracial relationships and adoption, but Telemundo’s El Clon has reached new heights with their obsession with Natalia's drug addiction.

Being an adaptation of Gloria Perez’s Brazilian novela O Clone, I was very excited about the promise of seeing something different on Hispanic television. The idea of taking an issues as controversial as cloning and interracial dating and bringing it to the (Hispanic) masses was refreshing—especially considering that most novelas still follow the traditional pattern of poor girl/guy falls in love with rich girl/guy but they can’t be together because of class differences or inter-family hatred.

However, recently, El Clon has focused on showing us, the viewers, the negative effects of drug addiction. Natalia, a supporting character in the plot, has recently become the focus of the novela as we are constantly exposed to her struggles living as a drug addict. Not only that, but we also constantly hear the Don Enrique’s words of wisdom on the topic, as he has become some sort of spokesperson for the novela’s addicts (Natlia and her group of friends), narrating the struggles that are common to people with such condition. The irony is that he is also an alcoholic who is struggling to overcome his addiction.

I do not mean to delegitimize the condition or the struggles faced by real-life addicts. Addictions must be very damaging not only to the addicts themselves to but also to their friends and family members. However, seeing it repeatedly on my television screen is annoying.

Although I support the potential television has to start serious discussions, I am annoyed at the way novelas can become obsessed with certain issues and make them an increasingly important part of the plot. What’s worse is that they try to portray these issues so seriously that they end up being unnecessarily dramatic to the point where it becomes annoying. For example, not once, not twice, but multiple times I’ve had to watch Natalia promise her boyfriend and parents that she doesn’t have a problem while listening to Don Enrique’s voice-over that describes the denial addicts live in. Yes, it must be hard for someone going through an addiction problem, but I thought the novela was about Lucas, Jade and the clone. Why must we sit through an entire episode and watch Natalia suffer?

As writers attempt to educate their audiences about the realities of social issues through the television screen, they must seriously consider the impact those portrayals will actually have. Will they present a serious issue with respect and the necessary level of gravity or will they exaggerate to the point where viewers will want to hurl something at the tv screen?