Ugly Betty goes global

Abstract

Betty la Fea , the phenomenally popular Colombian telenovela, has been exported as both canned (e.g. either dubbed or unaltered) programming and format to approximately 70 countries, including the recent US prime-time hit Ugly Betty. Guided by an examination of the extended global success of this Colombian production, this article explores the telenovela as a cultural product that is successful because of its appeal on both the local and global level, and as an economic product traversing a global industry. Popular telenovelas succeed as both canned programming and formats because they combine universally appealing stories (rags-to-riches) and style (melodrama) with localizable specifics with which viewers can easily identify. While telenovelas are localized products produced to first achieve domestic success, the cross-ownership structure of and multinational flows that mark the telenovela industry render any conception of telenovelas as South-to-North contra-flows of culture inherently problematic. Instead, this article argues that telenovelas can best be understood as localizable yet universally appealing cultural products traversing global networks of capitalist cultural concerns.