August 03, 2004

Americanizing Telenovelas... With Mexican Spanish?

Since Telemundo -- the nation's second largest Spanish-language broadcaster -- was purchased by NBC back in 2002, it has consistently gotten pummeled in the ratings by Hispanic media's top dog: Univision. But as this fall approaches, they've managed to close Univision's gigantic lead. What's their key? For one, they're now standardizing all their broadcasts (including telenovelas) to ensure everyone speaks the same diction of Mexican Spanish, according to this Washington Post report:

    For the past year, Telemundo has been employing on-set dialogue coaches to "neutralize" the many national and regional Spanish accents of the network's actors. The network is aiming for the Spanish equivalent of the English-speaking local news broadcaster sound -- a well-paced, accent-free patter that's pretty much the same, whether the anchors work in New York, Ohio or Los Angeles.

    --
    Mexican Spanish, Telemundo says, hits a middle ground between Colombian Spanish, which the network considers too fast and terse, and some Caribbean accents that are too slow and imprecise. Telemundo executives say Mexican Spanish is the broadest-appeal, easiest-to-understand Spanish -- if Telemundo's coaches can iron out its typical sing-song cadence. In other words, it becomes the Nebraskan of Spanish.

This is a tricky strategy. For instance, my girlfriend -- who's half-Colombian -- speaks a Castilian strain of Spanish and finds it difficult to understand Mexican Spanish. But she doesn't watch a lick of Spanish-language TV, so she's not the audience. However, she would agree with the following sentiments:

    The strategy has brought criticism from some quarters, such as Colombian television and cultural critics, who fault Telemundo for "Mexicanizing" the accents of its Colombian actors. Many Colombians believe their Spanish to be the purest spoken.

Damn purists. Nevertheless, this move by Telemundo actually reflects something American in its business approach -- not that this will placate any of the culture guardians. To boot:

    McNamara disagrees, offering a different analogy. "It's more the Americanization" of telenovelas. Which may be even worse for guardians of Hispanic culture, who fear that the United States-fueled homogeneity in media will eradicate national and cultural identities. Telemundo itself is owned by an American business icon -- General Electric Co., owners of NBC Universal Inc., which has overseen Telemundo since the media giant purchased it in 2002.

Check out the entire read. (registration required, but it's free)

Posted by thomas at August 3, 2004 12:24 AM | TrackBack