What Got The Six Girls Of Msa Mtv Analysis
It starts with a protest. A teenage girl in her bra yells at riot police and tries to avoid water cannons and smoke. A young guy in a suit finds her in the crowd and helps her break away from the riot. She is protesting against a law her father is pushing in her country's Senate. The guy in the suit is part of her father's staff, and secretly in love with her. And so, the rollercoaster that is Niñas Mal (Bad Girls) begins.
The scene I described piqued my curiosity, and I wasn’t the only one. It was MTV’s most popular show in 2010 for viewers between 12 and 24 years old (1). And somehow, at 28, I made it through 70 episodes of clunky writing, intense teenage tantrums, and outlandish stories.
So, what kept me going despite its shortcomings? …show more content…
And, like any other grounded teenager, they'll sulk and sometimes try to escape.
This show is evidently a telenovela. Why, you ask?
-It’s melodramatic and over the top.
-It revolves around women's suffering and the promise of gain through that suffering.
-There's no moral ambiguity—characters are either goodies or baddies, no shades of grey.
-They also lack complexity to the point they’re almost caricatures. There’s the angry teenager (Adela), the naïve, clumsy fat girl (Marisa), the haughty rich girl (Greta), the spoiled pop star (Nina), the presumed-lesbian tomboy (Valentina), and the quiet girl with a dark past (Pía).
The characters may have different personalities, but a few struggles unite them: a lack of agency, a struggle with class and gender roles, and the ongoing threat of sexual violence.
These girls are well aware of their social standing. For example, Niñas Mal is a play on the term "niñas bien" (which means "good girls" or "rich …show more content…
A running joke involves Adela's friends, Piti, Fatu and Axl. They are always broke and love raiding Casa Maca's fridge.
Another defining treat of a typical telenovela is its villain. In this case, it’s Greta's boyfriend, Quique. He’s young, (superficially) charming, handsome, and rich. He's motivated by a need to control and dominate others. At first, he wants Great and her alter-ego, Lola. But by the end of the show his obsession gets out of control, and thus he schemes to gain legal control of the girls so they can be sexually available to him.
In the end, the one who takes Quique down is Pía, a victim of sexual slavery. Surprisingly, her story is treated with great sensibility. What happened to her was not an event in a vacuum, and while the effects on her personality are visible, her abuse is not just something that made her stronger. It's not treated as a lesson she learned or an opportunity for her to toughen up. Instead, she is reserved, mistrustful and fearful, but she is also kind and supportive of those she cares
The scene I described piqued my curiosity, and I wasn’t the only one. It was MTV’s most popular show in 2010 for viewers between 12 and 24 years old (1). And somehow, at 28, I made it through 70 episodes of clunky writing, intense teenage tantrums, and outlandish stories.
So, what kept me going despite its shortcomings? …show more content…
And, like any other grounded teenager, they'll sulk and sometimes try to escape.
This show is evidently a telenovela. Why, you ask?
-It’s melodramatic and over the top.
-It revolves around women's suffering and the promise of gain through that suffering.
-There's no moral ambiguity—characters are either goodies or baddies, no shades of grey.
-They also lack complexity to the point they’re almost caricatures. There’s the angry teenager (Adela), the naïve, clumsy fat girl (Marisa), the haughty rich girl (Greta), the spoiled pop star (Nina), the presumed-lesbian tomboy (Valentina), and the quiet girl with a dark past (Pía).
The characters may have different personalities, but a few struggles unite them: a lack of agency, a struggle with class and gender roles, and the ongoing threat of sexual violence.
These girls are well aware of their social standing. For example, Niñas Mal is a play on the term "niñas bien" (which means "good girls" or "rich …show more content…
A running joke involves Adela's friends, Piti, Fatu and Axl. They are always broke and love raiding Casa Maca's fridge.
Another defining treat of a typical telenovela is its villain. In this case, it’s Greta's boyfriend, Quique. He’s young, (superficially) charming, handsome, and rich. He's motivated by a need to control and dominate others. At first, he wants Great and her alter-ego, Lola. But by the end of the show his obsession gets out of control, and thus he schemes to gain legal control of the girls so they can be sexually available to him.
In the end, the one who takes Quique down is Pía, a victim of sexual slavery. Surprisingly, her story is treated with great sensibility. What happened to her was not an event in a vacuum, and while the effects on her personality are visible, her abuse is not just something that made her stronger. It's not treated as a lesson she learned or an opportunity for her to toughen up. Instead, she is reserved, mistrustful and fearful, but she is also kind and supportive of those she cares