Female Representation in Señora Acero - Blog Post #2

    Señora Acero follows the story of Sara Aguilar. In the first episode of the show, Sara's wedding is gunned down by a rivaling cartel. Her fiancee, Vicente Acero, ends up dying in the conflict. Prior to the wedding, Sara was unaware of her fiancee's dangerous business dealings but is now forced to become involved herself in order to survive. 

    Sara's character is a direct opposition to the traditional "Cinderella" trope seen played out in a lot of telenovelas. The Cinderella trope portrays women often as being poor, rural, naive, beautiful, pure, and having some sort of transformation. For example, many of the transformation stories of a Cinderella character include the woman coming from a poor or rural background, falling in love with a man of higher socioeconomic status, and living happily ever after. The success of a Cinderella character's transformation is often highly dependent on a man. The transformation seen in Sara's character is much different than this. After the death of her fiancee, Sara does not remain in a state of fear and helplessness. She determines that the only solution to keep both her and her son safe would be to take over her fiancees business. Sara does not just become a drug trafficker though; she becomes one of the most successful drug traffickers in Mexico. 

    The transformation here is essentially a reversal of the Cinderella trope. In the first episode, Sara has already gotten the guy and may even be seen as a Cinderella, scared and desperate for protection. She reverses this trope by slowly gaining her own strength and independence, making herself one of the most intimidating women in all of Mexico without the help of a man. This is the antithesis of a Cinderella. She is neither pure nor naive, and her success is spurred by the death of a man, not the security of one.