Page 354 - Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Communication Competence Language and Communication Problems Practical Solutions

332 Perry Hinton

tive audience’ model undermines the view that audiences are pawns of powerful
media effects in their making of meaning, they have little choice in the media
production and delivery and therefore their enjoyment and interpretation of
television programmes exists within the framework of the media industries. For
example, the telenovela The Rich Also Cry was the first opportunity for a Rus-
sian audience to view this type of show after a diet of dull broadcasts (Baldwin
1995). Also Miller and Philo (2001) argue against the view that the audience can
interpret a programme in any way: audiences usually can understand the in-
tended message but they may accept or reject it. Their only exception is where
language and culture are very different between the producers of the message
2
and the audience. As we shall consider below, the dubbing and the cultural dif-
ferences between the Mexicans and the Russians could have led to differences
in the interpretation of The Rich Also Cry. However, its focus on the life of its
central female character could have the same appeal to Russian women as it had
to the Mexican women thirteen years earlier.
One explanation for the global success of the telenovela is that, like Ang’s
analysis of Dallas, it provides the enjoyment of melodrama for a majority fe-
male audience (see Gledhill 1992). Telenovelas have a finite number of episodes
(around 200) so, unlike some soap operas, they do have a conclusion. Tradition-
ally, there is a romantic couple at the centre of the drama, with many difficulties
providing obstacles to their love. Many telenovelas, such as the Mexican Sim-
plemente Maria – a Cinderella story that was also successful in Russia – have a
strong female lead at the heart of the story. Thus, the success of telenovelas
across the world, both in their own countries of origin and in Russia or the
Czech Republic lies in their emotional expression through melodrama. Their
success in Bulgaria can be attributed to women’s pleasure, in that they construct
a feminine aesthetic that provides a validation of female emotional power and
romantic relationships (Kotzeva 2001). However, we should be cautious in pro-
posing an explanation that ignores the cultural context of the television experi-
ence. Baldwin (1995) argues that the success of The Rich Also Cry in Russia can
be linked to the particular cultural context of Russia at the time of screening.
Furthermore, there may be subtle culturally-specific features of the content
within the programme that are only available to the knowing audience of the in-
digenous ‘cultural-linguistic market’ (Wilkinson 2003) and not to an audience
from a different culture.
Acosta-Alzuru (2003) interviewed Venezuelan viewers of El País de las
Mujeres (The Country of Women), a non-traditional Venezuelan telenovela
drawing on social issues current within the culture, including sexual harass-
ment, domestic abuse, abortion and homosexuality. She found that issues such
as domestic violence, which had been part of the public debate for some while,
were accepted by the audience but other issues, such as abortion and homosex-
uality, which were problematic issues within Venezuelan culture, were much