Abstract

The telenovela Montecristo is a communicative phenomenon by which mass media and human rights joined forces to promote current issues within Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo. It incorporated in its plot a traumatic process: a woman finds her real identity, the one who was stolen during the 1970s by the dictatorial government in Argentina. This process displays topics such as memory, justice, and power in current Argentine society. Montecristo was broadcasted in Argentina during 2006 and in the United States during 2008–2009, and it represents a change (among others) in Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo approach to their search. This change meant to promote awareness regarding their search for babies and children who were kidnapped during the last Argentine dictatorship. This essay also analyzes the genre telenovela as a cultural production with specific features in a growing transnational cultural market and its position inside the Latin American cultural industry.

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