Series in Latin America: the ‘prostitution’ of reality

The recreation of the death of Luis Andrés Colmenares is part of the new puzzle of television: the ridicule of violence in real life

In recent years, the big television networks have witnessed, not only the technological revolution that resulted from the constant evolution of new digital platforms, based on the internet, but also the transformation of content and the "importance" of violence in the creation of new audiovisual products.

Leer en español: Series en Latinoamérica: la 'prostitución' de la realidad

An example of this is the creation, in the Latin American case, of series that have drug trafficking as a protagonist, antagonist – at the same time – even as a God. The 'narconovelas', mostly Colombian and Mexican, are a sample of the corrupt, violent and cynical culture that we live in our region every day.

These productions generate, even in the smallest, a wrong perception of a social problem that is now being justified, when, morally and culturally, should be punished. But, even worse, it is the fact of the 'prostitution' of reality described in fiction stories.

During the last decade, projects such as "Escobar: the Pattern of Evil" or "The Lord of the Skies", rather than recreating or restoring the fateful history that the drug business has left in Latin America, ended up revictimizing the people who in one way or another they have been affected by the waves of violence in the subcontinent.

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Media mockery

Now, the productions that have to do with real-life cases and death as the main theme have not only laid their foundations in drug trafficking. Some of them have exposed great stories in which the murders of certain people have put them at the top of their fame or, if they already had some recognition, ended up reaching the Olympus of admiration. Whatever the case may be, blood has been the ink with which the scripts are written and disrespect for the memory of the victims, the central argument.

That is why the idea of bringing the story of Luis Andrés Colmenares (a young Colombian killed in 2010, and whose case is still a mystery) in 2019, is not at all a surprise among a market that exploits the identity violence of the Latin American public.

Of course, the family of the young has not seen with good eyes the recreation of this event that will be part of the second season of "Story of a crime", an original Netflix series. In an interview for Caracol Radio, Luis José Colmenares, his father, determined that he will take legal action against the streaming company, which is already used to generating this type of content.

Other cases are the stories told by the FOX network in 'American Crime Story', a series that already has two seasons in which it describes the case of OJ Simpson, in the 90s, and the murder of the famous designer Gianni Versace. Both stories reflect the morbid created, both by the violent roots of both stories and by the mediatization of them.

In conclusion, the television of recent years has become a factory of dreams but broken. The pain and anguish caused by violent experiences and, in stronger terms, bloody in some people, have become the main arguments of a market that every day shows more apathy for human welfare and respect for the memory of victims.

Will the imagination of today's screenwriters be so limited that they should choose to ridicule the violent events of real life, instead of

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LatinAmerican Post | Christopher Ramírez Hernández

* The opinion of the editor does not represent the average

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