TELENOVELAS IN BRAZIL: FROM TRAVELING SCRIPTS TO A GENRE਍ഀ AND PROTO-FORMAT BOTH NATIONAL AND TRANSNATIONAL

Joseph Straubhaar (University of Texas)

In this paper, we argue that there are several layers of genre, proto-format commercialization of program elements, and current commercially licensed formats. Some genre traditions, like melodrama, tend to be large, over-arching categories that already have a long history before television (Martín-Barbero 1993). Specific genres of television production, like the U.S. soap opera or the Latin American telenovela can਍ഀ develop within that larger tradition. Even more specific genres, like the Brazilian socially engaged or historical telenovelas, versus the romantic Mexican Cinderella story telenovela (Hernandez 2001), develop or emerge over time within those genre traditions.