The Transnationalization of the Telenovela Industry, Territorial References and the Production of Markets and Representations of Transnational Identities

DANIEL MATO

Television & New Media

Sage Publications

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2005 vol. 6 p. 423 - 444

1527-4764

<!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0pt; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:none; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} span.apple-style-span {mso-style-name:apple-style-span;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:70.85pt 85.05pt 70.85pt 85.05pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> This article examines the process of the transnationalization of the telenovela industry from aperspective that seeks to articulate economic and cultural analysis. Several objectives guidethis analysis: first, studying an industry of great importance in the daily life of hundreds ofmillions of human beings; second, criticizing through a case study the a priori assumptionsthat globalization processes are both “homogenizing” and “deterritorialized.” The case ofthe telenovela industry shows that while certain differences are erased from the productions,new ones appear, and that not only do old territorial references continue to be meaningfulbut that new territorial references emerge (e.g., the city of Miami); third, discussing some tensionsunderlying the production of telenovelas as a sector of television and other entertainmentindustries, with particular attention to the tensions related to the production of marketsand of representations of identities, especially to the construction of a transnational“Hispanic” identity.