With a Latin Flavor: Cultural and Narrative Contributions of the Latin American Telenovela to Spanish Fiction

For more than twenty years in Spain, national series and telenovelas were broadcast alongside Latin American telenovelas, which have gradually decreased until practically disappearing from the screens. Although the production of Spanish fiction goes back as far as the arrival of television, the truth is that the disaffection with the Latin American telenovela and the consolidation of Spanish fiction may have brought with it the transfer of narrative, aesthetic and cultural codes upon the which the new model of Spanish audiovisual fiction was built. This article1 analyzes these characteristics in both models from the comparative analysis of broadcast titles. The results show similarities in the superimposed structure of the plots and the use of drama, while differences include the design of characters and the preference for certain themes and settings related to the cultural spaces in which the stories occur.This article forms part of a larger research project titled History of Television Programmes and Television Fiction Programming in Spain (National Channels): From Deregulation to Analogue Switch-off (1990–2010), financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Government of Spain), CSO2015-66260-C4-4-P