Incidental music has never been so abused. The telenovelas here use all this intense music for a simple scene; things are way over-dramatized. My mom is watching a show and someone broke someone else’s heart, or killed someone, or saw something, whatever happens in soap-operas. All of a sudden this heartrending sad orchestral music pops out of the middle of nowhere. But fear not! The angst-ridden woman’s sobs are still quite audible, no doubt about that. It gets better when I’m watching an episode with my mom.
Here’s how it goes: we’re all/both (can be anybody who’s at home) laying on the bed paying rapt attention. They speak Spanish, I can barely greet people. An attractive woman walks into an elaborately furnished living room to suddenly be accosted by her wailing mother (Cue dramatic music.) They cry and yell at each other for a bit before the father walks into the room. Both women, thoroughly distraught by now, start vigorously explaining their story to him. (Keep in mind, that none of this is making sense, except for the si’s and no’s.) Macho-style, he tries to stay disconnected until someone mentions something that gets him ticked and he gets involved. Intense yelling, then the music slows, allowing one person to make a life shattering announcement and then walk off, leaving the parents to console each other or fight it out again.
Rinse, and repeat. I cannot take this seriously. I’m not an actress, but I’m in theatre and can usually tell good acting from bad. (E.g., I know when my brother and sisters are faking it.) This is painful. The entire set-up is intensely dramatic that I start imagining ladies in fancy dresses pulling off that classing faint move. Yet my mother and sister are so into this! When the daughter leaves after being (poorly) stage-combat slapped by her mother, my family gasps.
And believe it or not, I love this. I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m complaining, because I SO am not. (I’m just a sarcastic little bugger.) Hey, at least since it’s so dramatic I can tell what’s going on even with my severely limited Spanish. Yay for free Rosetta Stone! I bet that I’ll get hooked on these and by the time I’m in the US, I’ll be on Hulu searching for my favorite shows.
