Patito Feo

I just finished watching an incredible documentary called "No Volveran" which is about the Venezuelan Revolution which resulted in the two-time election of Hugo Chavez. As our economy crumbles, they are building theirs from the ground up, and doing it fairly and equitably - nationaliztion, rather than privitazation is the trend in Venezuela, and it seems to be working. But a break from politics....

Every day, unless I am out for a Spanish class or conversation exchange, I try to watch two programs on TV. Tardes de Accion - which is kind of like COPS, but I think better, and Patito Feo, which would be at home on the Disney Channel.

Tardes de Accion follows police on calls out in the provinces of Buenos Aires or the shanty towns outside of the city. I like it because I get to see how people live outside of the Recoleta. But also, they do longer segments on different things - recently they showed inside a community called La California, which was a complex that was formerly a factory that had been abandoned and was taken over by something like a hundred families who were now living inside, or they showed people who were living in a garbage dump and making a living picking through garbage and selling it for recycling. It's a raw look at people I don't normally get to see.

Patito Feo, on the other hand, is a goofy, girly, kind of soap opera for teenagers. It is very complex as there are hundreds of characters who always seem to be changing. I think it is good listening practice for me and I get to hear different expressions that are in vogue.

When I first started watching Patito, who is the main character, was friends with Antonella. They were going to form this group called "Pretty Girls". Patito Feo, by the way, means Ugly Duckling. Patito, used to have braids and big glasses and braces, but she is now a beautiful young woman.

Anyway, something happened that I missed because I missed some episodes and next time I tuned in Antonella was in her bedroom with this guy Facundo, who had a really nice shag, and she was kind of nutty. She tends to go on these rants and is really kooky. I thought Facundo was gay because he was always in her room and they never kissed and everyone else on the show seems to be making out with everyone. Turns out Facundo is Antonella's brother and for some reason they were in Spain.

Patito's father, Leandro, was kidnapped by Blanca, Antonella's mother, and they did some kind of shock treatment to erase his memory so that he would fall in love with Blanca. But something happened (I missed that episode) and next thing I saw was this weird woman who lived in the woods with a horse saving Leandro and nursing him back to health. This woman, Ana, and Leandro fell in love.

Patito heard that her father died but didn't believe it, so she went on the news and made an appeal to anyone who saw her father to call her.

Leandro got rescued by a helicopter but left Ana behind in the woods, but the next day he went back for her. The guys in the helicopter came back for him and caught Ana as well, who didn't want to leave the woods. They put them both in jail, but they escaped and made their way to Buenos Aires where they were staying with Ana's friend who is a psychologist and lives in a really big house with a huge yard and a pool.

Someone saw Leandro and called Patito and she went to find her father. Eventually, she saw him, but Ana and her psychologist friend told Patito's grandmother that Leandro had amnesia and they needed to be careful to allow him to regain his memory on his own otherwise it would be an emotional shock. So they convinced Patito to pretend he was just a regular guy and they convinced Leandro to work as Patito's mother's gardner. Her mother, by the way, was sent off to Bariloche for some reason.

A lot of the action takes place at school, where they all go. It is called the Pretty Land School of Arts, and Patito's grandmother was the owner and director, but she sold the school and gave up her position after Leandro disappeared. The new director, Sophia is a transgendered woman (really, not in the show) with a deep voice like a man. She is pretty outrageous and wears these skin tight outfits. I can't imagine her being on any program in the US without the religious fanatics protesting and closing down the station.

The kids at Pretty Land School of Arts all seem to be falling in and out of love with each other. I can't really keep track of who is with who. To make things more complicated they are preparing for this dance competition and the dance instructor paired them up sometimes with their ex and sometimes with someone who loves them but they don't love in return (Japanese call this one-way love).

I normally would not watch this kind of program if it were in English, but it is interesting for me to follow this kooky story and also to see the kind of garbage they are feeding their kids here. Patito lives in a big house with a yard and so does Antonella - these are beyond Recoleta cheta places. It is always interesting to me to see how television does not reflect the lives of most people but instead presents a super idealized, rich version of life in a country.

I don't know how much longer I will watch Patito Feo but for now it is an interesting contrast after watching Tardes de Accion and seeing people digging through rubbish to survive.