Telenovelas and Soap Operas: Negotiating Reality from the Periphery

Abstract

Latin American telenovelas, like the Australasian soap operas, have been globally successful. It is a remarkable feature of this success that it has reversed the flow from the centres of production in Europe and the United States. I argue that we should assess these products from the ‘periphery’ in their own terms, and not through the lens of the industries of the heartland. I lake the Mexican case as a specific example, and turn then to comparisons between the Australasian soap industry and that in Latin America.