Abstract

SANCHEZ VILELA, Rosario. New wine in old wineskins. The melodramatic matrix of the telenovela and contemporary cultural changes in gender identities. Comun. soc [online]. 2020, vol.17, e7505.  Epub Jan 27, 2021. ISSN 0188-252X.  https://doi.org/10.32870/cys.v2020.7505.

This article aims to study how melodrama, constitutive of the Latin American telenovela, incorporates the new sense conformations of contemporary society. The text proposes a reconstruction of the network of genres that constitutes the telenovela to find some explanatory keys, while analyzing the gender identity of some illustrative characters. It is concluded that the melodramatic matrix places in a manageable universe the irruption of the new, integrates it in the conformation of common sense and continues with its prescriptive and moralizing function, contributing to the configuration of a new hegemony.

Keywords : telenovela; melodrama; social change; preferred senses; gender; identities.