Charles Boll - Post 1

The first commercial flight to Cuba in over 50 years happened today.. what a cool thing, right?

It's such a cultural hotspot, a time-warp and a living museum with some of my favorite props - antique cars. You know it's good stuff when you can't tell if your telenovela is "de epoca" or not. That's what we get with the show Celia. I admit it's very distant from our current reality - all of the gentlemen look really sharp and the women have such modest class. The Cuban aesthetic is a commodity. It's great through my eyes; a lot more sexy because the characters look like they have their lives together with such strong presence on screen. 

One of my favorite things about the class so far is the diversity we have had the chance to see. I think it goes to show the pertinence of the Spanish language in the way it crosses platforms. Higher production telenovelas cast a wonderful spotlight on proximity, especially newer shows. I like that the historical proximity is implied. There are scenes in a ton of different places.

My telenovela, Celia, is perfect. It definitely has raw emotion, but it is pieced together outside the typical traditions of telenovelas. For example, instead of the first episode showing two people falling in love, it shows a sponsor falling in love with the voice of a singer. Having a musical vigor to the production really helps break down what they call the fourth wall in acting. See, in a play there's only three walls, allowing interaction between the audience and actors. Usually in a play you see the extras are extremely animated with background conversation, to the point where it's not realistic because humans sometimes... just sit. But here, oh no, there's no just sitting. Everything is very live and struck with wonder, indeed a production. I like to see the musicians playing the music at the same time I watch them encounter each other's personalities - it's a dance.