Padres e Hijos (and Berlusconi)

Padres e Hijos (P&H - spanish for Parents and Children) was a very popular daytime series in Colombia. As you may guess from the title, the series was centered around the members of a family (the Franco family) and their everyday events. It was broadcasted during 15 long years from Monday to Friday, after lunch. It is quite fair to say that, for very different reasons, a whole generation grew up watching P&H. In fact, it always had very high ratings and most people were more or less aware of the current status of the story, which was often surreal and with very strange turns of events.

In spite of its high ratings and popularity, it is also fair to say that most people watching P&H had very strong feelings against P&H. In fact, apart from the absurd stories, the quality of the production was quite low, with awful performances everyday. In particular, I doubt there is a single Colombian who doesn't have feelings against Daniela Franco, one of the characters in the series. Daniela was one of the daughters of the family, and along the years most of the plot concerned her adventures. This way, for instance, when Daniela was a teenager, she belonged to a gang and shoplifted for a while; some years after that, she was kidnapped by the guerilla (P&H was a very Colombian series); some years later, she got married twice and went insane. The hate against Daniela Franco was automatically transferred to Ana Victoria Beltrán, the actress portraying Daniela. In fact, after such a long time playing Daniela, Beltrán was unable to find a different role in Colombian TV and had to retire. (She recently participated in a reality show, with scarce success.)

You may then be wondering: if everyone hated P&H, how come it had such high ratings and acceptation? Well, there are several theories. One of them says that for a substantial amount of people it became a habit to have lunch while keeping an eye on P&H. Some people would enjoy digesting their lunch by watching the lame performances in P&H. It was a masochist exercise, yes, but it could be really funny. However, my favorite theory is that people would watch P&H to feel better about their own lives. In fact, the absurd/sad/surreal stories of the Franco family (involving, for instance, multiple betrayals, miscarriages, tragic losses) would help many people to accept and perhaps appreciate their own existence, as they could say: "well, my family may have problems, but at least is not fucked up as the Franco family!". 

Oddly enough, the ironic nature of P&H came to my mind earlier this week, after hearing about the most recent scandals of Berlusconi in Italy. There is, indeed, a strong relationship between P&H and Italy. Let me elaborate. By now it is more or less certain that no matter what Berlusconi does, nothing will change in Italy. We have seen it multiple times: with every new scandal he surpasses the limits he had surpassed before, and with the same consequences. That is, none. The latest prostitution scandal is particularly embarrassing though. I am not sure if Italians realize how depressing this looks from outside. Most likely they don't, because otherwise they would do something concrete to remove Berlusconi from power. 

The situation is so critic, that in my view by now Italy is the P&H of the countries of the world. Indeed, a Colombian could say "well, my president is a despicable human being, but he doesn't sleep with underage prostitutes". A Portuguese could say "well, the crisis is so tough and the new taxes unbearable, but at least the head of state is not using our money to defend himself from mafia accusations." As a matter of fact, it is enough to pay attention to the latest scandal in Italy to somehow feel better about our own country. Just as we felt better about ourselves by watching P&H everyday after lunch.

Stray bullets (and other forms of happiness)

I have spent Christmas and New Year's eve in Colombia, after having missed both last year. This kind of holidays are certainly quite unique here; in the cold, snowy first world you can hardly feel the warm celebrations you can see here. It is hard to describe the feeling:  you've got to see it with your own eyes.

In a country such as Colombia these celebrations have their downsides. Oddly enough, getting together to celebrate can be quite risky. It turns out that in this period families get together, in many cases for the only time in the year. This can be quite dangerous: the mix of alcohol and old animosities within the family can turn a happy reunion into a violent fight. This year, authorities have observed an increase in the number of conflicts which are solved in a violent way, often with deadly consequences. This is not guerilla or drug dealers who conspire against Christmas: they're normal, decent people who get drunk, get irrational, and do stupid things. Stupid things such as hurting / fighting with / killing your neighbor, your cousin, the guy who stared at your girlfriend. You see, life can be quite fragile here. A very similar phenomenon is observed every year the second sunday of May, during Mother's day.

Life can be fragile, indeed. Something particularly common in Colombia are stray bullets. These holidays there has been a huge amount of people dying because of them.  Or at least that's the message media has been trying to convey in every possible way: they've been particularly eager to register the cases in which kids are involved, for instance. The other day almost the whole newscast was devoted to people dead because of stray bullets. You might wonder where all these bullets come from. In normal circumstances, they come from the encounters between the police and urban gangs, which most times occur inside neighborhoods. (It is safe to say that most Colombians know how to recognize the sound of a gunshot from that of, for instance, certain kinds of fireworks that produce a similar effect.) However, the number of stray bullets increases dramatically during Christmas and New Year's eve. You see, in Colombia shooting to the sky with a gun is a socially acceptable way of showing your happiness. Needless to say, not everyone has a gun and does this. But there are way too many guns in the wrong hands, and everyday many die because of stray bullets. I am not able to give a rational explanation of how shooting to the sky (and thus inadvertently killing a distant someone) is related to happiness. It is a way of demonstrating power, and some people can feel happy of being feared, I guess.

Not everything about the holidays in Colombia is violent or negative, of course. For instance, it has been observed that natality rates during September/October are higher than during the other months of the year. This means that many children are conceived during the Christmas period, a clear evidence that getting together with your beloved ones does not necessarily imply a risk.