Reflection on the Class Finale

The whole Telenovelas class realizes what a great tool they can be for learning more Spanish. From studying Celia on Netflix, I learned how the power of telenovelas is a key to understanding language and culture. Since I was young, seeing Spanish television served as a great inlet to a different culture from my own. It snow-balled until now, where I find myself preparing for an extended stay in Costa Rica to pursue photojournalism.

The power of journalism in our current time is held in the visual appeal. I wonder what differences I will experience across cultures. Media accessibility has now changed. For example, many in the U.S. don't crank on the radio, or actually stop to see what is in the newspaper stand. In Athens, big posters and signs catch our eye on the street. The platforms we use to consume information is light years faster than before - we just look at our phones. To create success your journalism or media company, you have to be easily accessible on social media and online platforms. The key is creating quality multimedia of audio and visual. The simple truth is: no good visuals - no clicks.

Particularly in the field of photojournalism, you have to believe in the power of an image. A killer work of photojournalism will take hours and maybe years of practice in order to manifest in a single, mindful moment. The success relies on capturing a single moment - one that touches the audience in a way that could write laps around any essay. Having a camera to someone's face in a personal, non-fiction moment is difficult. You don't just walk into someone's personal space clicking away. Good journalism is meticulous across platforms.

So there's a difference between telenovelas and journalism. The way the story is created in non-fiction v. ficiton media. The visual production is valuable in the ability to create stories, like the way musicians do. Like a true millennial, I love music videos and documentary films. Costa Rica has a different representation from our side. On YouTube, it is not easy to find telenovela research, but there are a million travel media companies that cover Costa Rica. I am excited to get to my bungalow and observe the way that people consume media, and perhaps discuss it in the UGA Costa Rica Blog