¡Por favor, resuciten a Silvia!

23 October 2009

by Dr Pied Piper

Article from El Pais, 24 October issue, about the campaign to save Silvia. If you want to read the original Spanish text, you can find it here.

Here is the English translation - all inconsistencies and mistranslations are solely my fault.

Please, Resurrect Silvia!

An international campaign on the Internet to bring back a lesbian character who died in "Los Hombres de Paco"

By ELIZABETH GALLO - Madrid - 24/10/2009

"Regresen a Silvia". "No maten a Silvia, por favor". "¡Viva Silvia!" "¡Resucita!". "Silvia, forever". Similar messages written in Castilian, English, Italian, Swedish and even Japanese, received from the five continents, can be viewed on YouTube. They are part of an internet campaign to request the return of the lesbian character in the Antena3 series Los hombres de Paco, played by Marian Aguilera. Silvia was killed at the hands of the Camorra in the last episode of season seven. But she was not the only one. Because her marriage to Pepa (Laura Sanchez) held in a quaint country house turned into a bloodbath. The following also died in the ambush: Quique (Enrique Martinez), Nelson (Jimmy Castro) and Montoya (Aitor Luna). However, none of the other three deaths has been the subject of such an international campaign.

The dramatic end of Chapter 104, aired in July, caused a public outcry, orchestrated by followers of Pepsis, an acronym for the names of the two lovers. The campaign took those responsible for Los Hombres by surprise. "We are impressed. It was incredible the number of postcards and emails we've received from Brazil, USA, Serbia, Colombia, New Zealand and Taiwan," says Alex Pina, executive producer of the series.

But the desire to "give life" to the love story as requested by the fans in the video will not be fulfilled. The whole team is already working on the next installments in the series to air in January, "modernized," anticipates Pina. And the resurrection of this woman who, for the better part of the series, played a heterosexual who was married to and later divorced from Lucas (Hugo Silva); then had a relationship with Montoya and finally ended in the arms of Pepa - is not in the minds of the writers . Among other reasons was that Aguilera herself decided to "leave" and seek a "change of scenery," says Pina, recalling that the actress had been in Los hombres de Paco since opening in 2005. By contrast, her widow, Pepa, will be have room for other storylines.

David Molina, director of the series, talks of the website afterellen.com, a U.S. portal (Piper's note: they referred to AE as a blog...) dedicated to analyzing and commenting on how the media portrays lesbian and bisexual women. In one of their forums there appeared a review about a Spanish series which featured a lesbian plot "from the romantic side." Spaniards also responded with various blogs, forums, and a plethora of fan fictions to keep the PepSi story alive.

Antena 3 capitalized on the international followers of the series; soon a YouTube channel called Pepsienglish emerged. International fans eventually discovered the show, especially the PepSi sequences, "with subtitles in English and then in other languages like French and German," says Molina. The director argues that some Web forums have also picked up the affair between Macarena (Patricia Vico), Esther (Fátima Baeza), the physician and nurse in Hospital Central (Telecinco), although with less impact. The climax came last Saturday when an ad appeared on a nationwide announcement with fans from more than 50 countries thanking the actresses Aguilera and Sanchez for their work. "We lack words to express the emotional impact Silvia and Pepa and their love story have had on our lives," says the advertising paid for by money raised through forums and initiatives in digital broadcasting. "Pepsi stands out as a portrait of women in love by being truly unique, realistic and positive, and above all provide hope," the ad further says.

And the sentiment is summarized by C.G., a Los Hombres fan ... and user of the blogs: "It was time for a TV show to portray poetic and romantic relationship between two girls."

Fluff piece, if there ever was one.  Why weren't Marian and Laura interviewed, especially since this article was all about them.  Why was there no mention of "the marketing meeting with executives" that was flaunted by an AE poster?  How long before this article blows over and forgotten, except by birds whose cages are lined with old newspapers containing the 1,000Euro ad?

 Marian Aguilera, Los Hombres de Paco