Julio Jimenez (writer)
Encyclopedia
Julio Jiménez is a Colombian
writer
of telenovela
s for RTI Colombia
.
Bella Calamidades
(2009), Madre Luna
(2007), La viuda de blanco
(2006), El cuerpo del deseo
(2005), "Pasión de gavilanes
" (2003), "Amantes del desierto
" (2001), "Luzbel esta de visita" (2001), "Rauzán
" (2000), Yo Amo a Paquita Gallego
(1998), "La Casa del naranjo" (1998), "La Viuda de Blanco
" (1996), "Las Aguas mansas" (1994), "En cuerpo ajeno" (1992), Profanación (1976), El ángel de piedra, El cazador nocturno, El gallo de oro, El hijo de Ruth, El hombre de negro, El Virrey Solís, Recordarás mi nombre, La abuela
, La feria de las vanidades, La marquesa de Yolombó, La pezuña del diablo, Lola Calamidades, Los cuervos, Los premios, Mi segundo enemigo, Por qué mataron a Betty, Un largo camino
” (The Grandmother) that during the '80s
was a grand hit in Colombia
even though it was not the typical love story
one would expect in a telenovela. The very tough, cold hearted character of the grandmother and her evil actions arose some protests in Colombia but that did not stop the telenovela from getting to be so successful that the story was taken to the big screen making a very interesting film
. In 1986 his series “Los cuervos” registers the highest rating ever in Colombian television. Shortly after in 1992 Julio writes the telenovela “En cuerpo ajeno” again this telenovela breaks the record of rating
ever reached in Colombia becoming one of the greatest hits of Colombian television
. Two years later in 1995 Julio’s telenovela “Las agues mansas” turns into an international hit. 1996 brings yet another hit in the career
of Jimenez. His telenovela “La viuda de blanco
” is an international success that helps Colombian telenovelas get to countries like Romania
and Cyprus
. In 1998 Julio writes “Yo amo a Paquita Gallego
” a telenovela so successful in Colombia that its couple appeared in commercial products such as shoes. It was also a big hit in other Latin American countries as well as internationally. In 2000 Jimenez touches for the first time in a telenovela the subject of catalepsy
in his telenovela "Rauzan
".
In 2002 Julio starts working exclusively for RTI that has teamed up with Telemundo
and he writes the remake of one of his own stories “Las agues mansas” which he renames to Pasión de gavilanes
. As he says Pasion de gavilanes was the revenge of Las aguas mansas that had a lot of production problems and had not the success expected in Colombia besides its international good course. And a great revenge it was since this telenovela was meant to turn into one of the most successful telenovelas ever made, marking an international record of rating!
The worldwide fame and success of this telenovela has known no limits and still produces fruits. In Spain
Pasión de gavilanes has known such success in 2005 that it was said to have woken the phenomenon of the “fans
” in the country making the protagonists of the telenovela big stars! It was such the success of the telenovela in Spain that the best episodes are sold in a DVD
collection of 14 DVDS and its soundtrack
sold thousands of copies. Spain was just one of the nearly 100 countries that this big hit got to. In Colombia it was first in rating and its soundtrack first in sales for weeks, in all of Latin America it received numerous awards, in Argentina
it’s unexpected (by a foreign telenovela) success surprised audience and TV stations and internationally it put Telemundo in the map making its telenovelas known from Philippines
to Greece
. The cast of the telenovela traveled in countries all over the world to promote it. In the United States
Pasion de gavilanes (or PDG as fans call it) reached the highest rating up until then for a Telemundo telenovela. Due to that success a box of five DVDs is now sold in the USA with the "best of Pasion de gavilanes". Jimenez said he just took the original story he started las aguas mansas with and wrote a new telenovela and he wasn’t lying since Pasion de gavilanes only started with the same story but developed very differently. The fact is the international record of rating of this telenovela, the releasing and re-releasing of its soundtrack but most importantly the fan clubs of the telenovela all over the world was Julio’s very best possible entrance in Telemundo.
2005 marks the return of Jimenez in the world of telenovelas after Pasion de gavilanes with yet another telenovela of incalculable impact in the history of Hispanic
television and enormous success in the United States and worldwide. This time it’s the remake of his telenovela En cuerpo ajeno that Jimenez brings to life again writing El cuerpo del deseo
that came to surpass its original! El cuerpo del deseo
holds the record of highest rating ever achieved by a telenovela of Telemundo in the United States. People who could not even speak Spanish
watched without subtitles and declared to have loved the telenovela. El cuerpo del deseo
became as Telemundo advertised “your reason to watch Telemundo”. Due to its success a box of five DVDs is now sold in the USA with the "best of El cuerpo del deseo
". In 2006 a novel cold "El deseo ajeno" was published in the United States that was a continuation of the telenovela El cuerpo del deseo
. The novel marked high sales and was among the first in sales Spanish novels in the USA during the first weeks of its publication. In the screenings of 2005 El cuerpo del deseo
gets the highest sales of a telenovela of Telemundo and its world tour begins with countries as Spain (where it took the place of Pasion de gavilanes and was a big hit in ratings creating a big fan club for the female protagonist of the telenovela Lorena Rojas
), Puerto Rico
, Peru
, Bulgaria
, Israel
etc.
In 2006 Jimenez started writing another remake of his telenovela La viuda de blanco that aired in Telemundo (USA) and Colombia almost at the same time. In the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007 the telenovela was sold to Spain and aired in TVE. For the first time in a long time a non-Spanish production got to have 19 to 20 points of rating daily in TVE. For most of the time that La viuda de blanco aired in Telemundo(USA) it had higher rating than the other telenovelas of telemundo airing the same period (Marina, Amores de mercado and Amor mio).
In 2007 Jimenez reviewed an original story he had written years ago (but never was produced) called Madre Luna
that is to air in telemundo shortly and is expected to be a big hit.
(in which elements of the miraculous
could appear without seeming forced and unnatural) presenting in his fictional worlds the all too real magic of tales as old as time but presented as never before. Whether it is a ghost
(pasion de gavilanes) or two babies born in such weird circumstances as to be destined to be together (as in Yo amo a Paquita Gallego) or coming back to life(En cuerpo ajeno and later El cuerpo del deseo
) Jimenez left the magic
of the world
take over his all too real fiction
.
Julio’s hero
es are many-sided, strong, imposing and mysterious but at the same time with a very realistic emotional world and way of thinking. They are neither evil
nor angel
ic. Behind their mysterious figures Julio’s heroes hide suppressed emotions, fears and a world of feelings that are revealed gradually. The spectators’ first impression of Julio's heroes turns out to be a very small aspect of a very big story.
The atmosphere in Jiménez’s telenovelas is always full of obscurity and connotes hidden secrets that will surprise the viewer. What makes Julio’s heroes more interesting is that they are sometimes inspired by real people. He himself confesses that la abuela (the grandmother) of his telenovela of the same name is inspired by his own grandmother and that Gabriela (Pasión de gavilanes) is really the figure of his mother
that he came to understand and love more through the telenovela.
(la viuda de blanco, Rauzan) or a big mansion
(El cuerpo del deseo
) but always in the middle of nowhere or better yet it could be anywhere.
Female figures: The female
figure in Jiménez's telenovelas is always bewildering and distinguishes for its strength and self appreciation. A heroine in a J.J. telenovela imposes respect for herself without demanding it; merely her presence seems to inspire it. Julio’s women are peculiar in one way or another. Whether a woman incapable of crying (Yo amo a Paquita Gallego) or a tough woman of principles (Sarita in Pasión de gavilanes) or even one that is capable of killing (El cuerpo del deseo
) is still a figure you sympathize with and at the same time you are mesmerized by her.
Use of nature: Jiménez gives nature
a part in all his telenovelas; as he said himself in Pasion de gavilanes he “put the heroes on a horse
and made the landscape
the protagonist
”.
Jiménez has an inclination towards water
too; he always uses the element of water in his telenovelas. Whether a heroine drowns
herself in a river
(Pasión de gavilanes), drowns somebody in a lake
(El cuerpo del deseo
) or is simply presented having as a favorite place a lake (La viuda de blanco 1996), water is always there in the work of Jiménez.
Colombian people
Colombian people are from a multiethnic Spanish speaking nation in South America called Colombia. Colombians are predominantly Roman Catholic and are a mixture of Europeans, Africans, and Amerindians.-Demography:...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
of telenovela
Telenovela
A telenovela is a limited-run serial dramatic programming popular in Latin American, Portuguese, and Spanish television programming. The word combines tele, short for televisión or televisão , and novela, a Spanish or Portuguese word for "novel"...
s for RTI Colombia
RTI Colombia
RTI Colombia, also known as Radio Televisión Interamericana , is a Colombian television production company. It aired 14.5 per week of programming each week in 1993....
.
His telenovelas
Julio Jiménez has written numerous telenovelas including:Bella Calamidades
Bella Calamidades
Bella Calamidades is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by RTI Colombia for Telemundo. A tongue-in-cheek romance story, it features a ravishing beauty plagued by bad luck. The tentative stars are Danna Garcia and Segundo Cernadas. This telenovela was sold to more than 90 countries around the...
(2009), Madre Luna
Madre Luna
Madre Luna is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by the United States-based television network Telemundo and RTI Colombia. This limited-run series, also known as Grains of Love, debuted on July 2, 2007. Veteran telenovela writer Julio Jiménez developed the story as a vehicle for star Amparo...
(2007), La viuda de blanco
La Viuda de Blanco
La Viuda de Blanco is a 1996 Colombian telenovela hit which starred Osvaldo Ríos, María Helena Doehring, Jorge Enrique Abello, and Yolandita Monge. Its remake, titled the same, premiered on July 24, 2006 on Telemundo. Both versions were produced by Telemundo Studios Miami...
(2006), El cuerpo del deseo
El Cuerpo del Deseo
El cuerpo del Deseo also known as Second Chance is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by Telemundo and Film in Florida. This telenovela aired in several countries like Iran, Argentina, Malaysia, Poland, Philippines, Slovakia , Spain and Arab World on MBC Drama...
(2005), "Pasión de gavilanes
Pasión de gavilanes
Pasión de Gavilanes was a popular Colombian telenovela that ran for 188 episodes, from 2003 to 2004. Written by Julio Jiménez, it was produced by RTI Colombia in conjunction with the Telemundo network and with the participation of Caracol TV company. In Colombia, it was broadcast by Caracol TV...
" (2003), "Amantes del desierto
Amantes del Desierto
Amantes del Desierto , is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by the United States-based television network Telemundo, RTI Colombia and Caracol Television...
" (2001), "Luzbel esta de visita" (2001), "Rauzán
Rauzan
Rauzan is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Population:-References:*...
" (2000), Yo Amo a Paquita Gallego
Yo amo a Paquita Gallego
Yo amo a Paquita Gallego is loosely based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and is a Spanish language telenovela. The serial drama features the typical love-hate scenarios found in primetime television soap operas...
(1998), "La Casa del naranjo" (1998), "La Viuda de Blanco
La Viuda de Blanco
La Viuda de Blanco is a 1996 Colombian telenovela hit which starred Osvaldo Ríos, María Helena Doehring, Jorge Enrique Abello, and Yolandita Monge. Its remake, titled the same, premiered on July 24, 2006 on Telemundo. Both versions were produced by Telemundo Studios Miami...
" (1996), "Las Aguas mansas" (1994), "En cuerpo ajeno" (1992), Profanación (1976), El ángel de piedra, El cazador nocturno, El gallo de oro, El hijo de Ruth, El hombre de negro, El Virrey Solís, Recordarás mi nombre, La abuela
La abuela
La abuela is a 1981 Colombian drama film directed by Leopoldo Pinzón. The plot follows a traditional well to do decadent family in Bogotá ruled by a domineering and despotic grandmother who only loves her favorite grandson...
, La feria de las vanidades, La marquesa de Yolombó, La pezuña del diablo, Lola Calamidades, Los cuervos, Los premios, Mi segundo enemigo, Por qué mataron a Betty, Un largo camino
History of the Jimenez telenovela
Julio’s first success was the telenovela “La abuelaLa abuela
La abuela is a 1981 Colombian drama film directed by Leopoldo Pinzón. The plot follows a traditional well to do decadent family in Bogotá ruled by a domineering and despotic grandmother who only loves her favorite grandson...
” (The Grandmother) that during the '80s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
was a grand hit in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
even though it was not the typical love story
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
one would expect in a telenovela. The very tough, cold hearted character of the grandmother and her evil actions arose some protests in Colombia but that did not stop the telenovela from getting to be so successful that the story was taken to the big screen making a very interesting film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
. In 1986 his series “Los cuervos” registers the highest rating ever in Colombian television. Shortly after in 1992 Julio writes the telenovela “En cuerpo ajeno” again this telenovela breaks the record of rating
Audience measurement
Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites...
ever reached in Colombia becoming one of the greatest hits of Colombian television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. Two years later in 1995 Julio’s telenovela “Las agues mansas” turns into an international hit. 1996 brings yet another hit in the career
Career
Career is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a person's "course or progress through life ". It is usually considered to pertain to remunerative work ....
of Jimenez. His telenovela “La viuda de blanco
La Viuda de Blanco
La Viuda de Blanco is a 1996 Colombian telenovela hit which starred Osvaldo Ríos, María Helena Doehring, Jorge Enrique Abello, and Yolandita Monge. Its remake, titled the same, premiered on July 24, 2006 on Telemundo. Both versions were produced by Telemundo Studios Miami...
” is an international success that helps Colombian telenovelas get to countries like Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
. In 1998 Julio writes “Yo amo a Paquita Gallego
Yo amo a Paquita Gallego
Yo amo a Paquita Gallego is loosely based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and is a Spanish language telenovela. The serial drama features the typical love-hate scenarios found in primetime television soap operas...
” a telenovela so successful in Colombia that its couple appeared in commercial products such as shoes. It was also a big hit in other Latin American countries as well as internationally. In 2000 Jimenez touches for the first time in a telenovela the subject of catalepsy
Catalepsy
Catalepsy is also a term used by hypnotists to refer to the state of making a hypnotised subject's arm, leg or back rigid. "Arm catalepsy" is often a pre-hypnotic test performed prior to an induction into a full trance.-Causes:...
in his telenovela "Rauzan
Rauzan
Rauzan is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.-Population:-References:*...
".
In 2002 Julio starts working exclusively for RTI that has teamed up with Telemundo
Telemundo
Telemundo is an American television network that broadcasts in Spanish. The network is the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world, and the second-largest Spanish-language network in the United States, behind Univision....
and he writes the remake of one of his own stories “Las agues mansas” which he renames to Pasión de gavilanes
Pasión de gavilanes
Pasión de Gavilanes was a popular Colombian telenovela that ran for 188 episodes, from 2003 to 2004. Written by Julio Jiménez, it was produced by RTI Colombia in conjunction with the Telemundo network and with the participation of Caracol TV company. In Colombia, it was broadcast by Caracol TV...
. As he says Pasion de gavilanes was the revenge of Las aguas mansas that had a lot of production problems and had not the success expected in Colombia besides its international good course. And a great revenge it was since this telenovela was meant to turn into one of the most successful telenovelas ever made, marking an international record of rating!
The worldwide fame and success of this telenovela has known no limits and still produces fruits. In Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Pasión de gavilanes has known such success in 2005 that it was said to have woken the phenomenon of the “fans
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
” in the country making the protagonists of the telenovela big stars! It was such the success of the telenovela in Spain that the best episodes are sold in a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
collection of 14 DVDS and its soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
sold thousands of copies. Spain was just one of the nearly 100 countries that this big hit got to. In Colombia it was first in rating and its soundtrack first in sales for weeks, in all of Latin America it received numerous awards, in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
it’s unexpected (by a foreign telenovela) success surprised audience and TV stations and internationally it put Telemundo in the map making its telenovelas known from Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
to Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. The cast of the telenovela traveled in countries all over the world to promote it. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Pasion de gavilanes (or PDG as fans call it) reached the highest rating up until then for a Telemundo telenovela. Due to that success a box of five DVDs is now sold in the USA with the "best of Pasion de gavilanes". Jimenez said he just took the original story he started las aguas mansas with and wrote a new telenovela and he wasn’t lying since Pasion de gavilanes only started with the same story but developed very differently. The fact is the international record of rating of this telenovela, the releasing and re-releasing of its soundtrack but most importantly the fan clubs of the telenovela all over the world was Julio’s very best possible entrance in Telemundo.
2005 marks the return of Jimenez in the world of telenovelas after Pasion de gavilanes with yet another telenovela of incalculable impact in the history of Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
television and enormous success in the United States and worldwide. This time it’s the remake of his telenovela En cuerpo ajeno that Jimenez brings to life again writing El cuerpo del deseo
El Cuerpo del Deseo
El cuerpo del Deseo also known as Second Chance is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by Telemundo and Film in Florida. This telenovela aired in several countries like Iran, Argentina, Malaysia, Poland, Philippines, Slovakia , Spain and Arab World on MBC Drama...
that came to surpass its original! El cuerpo del deseo
El Cuerpo del Deseo
El cuerpo del Deseo also known as Second Chance is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by Telemundo and Film in Florida. This telenovela aired in several countries like Iran, Argentina, Malaysia, Poland, Philippines, Slovakia , Spain and Arab World on MBC Drama...
holds the record of highest rating ever achieved by a telenovela of Telemundo in the United States. People who could not even speak Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
watched without subtitles and declared to have loved the telenovela. El cuerpo del deseo
El Cuerpo del Deseo
El cuerpo del Deseo also known as Second Chance is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by Telemundo and Film in Florida. This telenovela aired in several countries like Iran, Argentina, Malaysia, Poland, Philippines, Slovakia , Spain and Arab World on MBC Drama...
became as Telemundo advertised “your reason to watch Telemundo”. Due to its success a box of five DVDs is now sold in the USA with the "best of El cuerpo del deseo
El Cuerpo del Deseo
El cuerpo del Deseo also known as Second Chance is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by Telemundo and Film in Florida. This telenovela aired in several countries like Iran, Argentina, Malaysia, Poland, Philippines, Slovakia , Spain and Arab World on MBC Drama...
". In 2006 a novel cold "El deseo ajeno" was published in the United States that was a continuation of the telenovela El cuerpo del deseo
El Cuerpo del Deseo
El cuerpo del Deseo also known as Second Chance is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by Telemundo and Film in Florida. This telenovela aired in several countries like Iran, Argentina, Malaysia, Poland, Philippines, Slovakia , Spain and Arab World on MBC Drama...
. The novel marked high sales and was among the first in sales Spanish novels in the USA during the first weeks of its publication. In the screenings of 2005 El cuerpo del deseo
El Cuerpo del Deseo
El cuerpo del Deseo also known as Second Chance is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by Telemundo and Film in Florida. This telenovela aired in several countries like Iran, Argentina, Malaysia, Poland, Philippines, Slovakia , Spain and Arab World on MBC Drama...
gets the highest sales of a telenovela of Telemundo and its world tour begins with countries as Spain (where it took the place of Pasion de gavilanes and was a big hit in ratings creating a big fan club for the female protagonist of the telenovela Lorena Rojas
Lorena Rojas
Lorena Rojas is a Mexican actress and singer, a song writer and best known for her leading roles in popular Telenovelas.- Biography :...
), Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
etc.
In 2006 Jimenez started writing another remake of his telenovela La viuda de blanco that aired in Telemundo (USA) and Colombia almost at the same time. In the end of 2006 and beginning of 2007 the telenovela was sold to Spain and aired in TVE. For the first time in a long time a non-Spanish production got to have 19 to 20 points of rating daily in TVE. For most of the time that La viuda de blanco aired in Telemundo(USA) it had higher rating than the other telenovelas of telemundo airing the same period (Marina, Amores de mercado and Amor mio).
In 2007 Jimenez reviewed an original story he had written years ago (but never was produced) called Madre Luna
Madre Luna
Madre Luna is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by the United States-based television network Telemundo and RTI Colombia. This limited-run series, also known as Grains of Love, debuted on July 2, 2007. Veteran telenovela writer Julio Jiménez developed the story as a vehicle for star Amparo...
that is to air in telemundo shortly and is expected to be a big hit.
The nature of Julio Jimenez’s writing
Jimenez’s writing follows the traditional Latin American formula of magic realismMagic realism
Magic realism or magical realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction in which magical elements blend with the real world. The story explains these magical elements as real occurrences, presented in a straightforward manner that places the "real" and the "fantastic" in the same stream of...
(in which elements of the miraculous
Miracle
A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...
could appear without seeming forced and unnatural) presenting in his fictional worlds the all too real magic of tales as old as time but presented as never before. Whether it is a ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
(pasion de gavilanes) or two babies born in such weird circumstances as to be destined to be together (as in Yo amo a Paquita Gallego) or coming back to life(En cuerpo ajeno and later El cuerpo del deseo
El Cuerpo del Deseo
El cuerpo del Deseo also known as Second Chance is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by Telemundo and Film in Florida. This telenovela aired in several countries like Iran, Argentina, Malaysia, Poland, Philippines, Slovakia , Spain and Arab World on MBC Drama...
) Jimenez left the magic
Magic (fantasy)
Magic in fiction is the endowing of fictional characters or objects with magical powers.Such magic often serves as a plot device, the source of magical artifacts and their quests...
of the world
World
World is a common name for the whole of human civilization, specifically human experience, history, or the human condition in general, worldwide, i.e. anywhere on Earth....
take over his all too real fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
.
Julio’s hero
Hero
A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...
es are many-sided, strong, imposing and mysterious but at the same time with a very realistic emotional world and way of thinking. They are neither evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...
nor angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
ic. Behind their mysterious figures Julio’s heroes hide suppressed emotions, fears and a world of feelings that are revealed gradually. The spectators’ first impression of Julio's heroes turns out to be a very small aspect of a very big story.
The atmosphere in Jiménez’s telenovelas is always full of obscurity and connotes hidden secrets that will surprise the viewer. What makes Julio’s heroes more interesting is that they are sometimes inspired by real people. He himself confesses that la abuela (the grandmother) of his telenovela of the same name is inspired by his own grandmother and that Gabriela (Pasión de gavilanes) is really the figure of his mother
Mother
A mother, mum, mom, momma, or mama is a woman who has raised a child, given birth to a child, and/or supplied the ovum that grew into a child. Because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to specify a universally...
that he came to understand and love more through the telenovela.
Elements Jiménez uses in his telenovelas
Isolated worlds: A telenovela written by Jiménez takes place sometime, someplace but you never know when or where that is. In a small villageVillage
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
(la viuda de blanco, Rauzan) or a big mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
(El cuerpo del deseo
El Cuerpo del Deseo
El cuerpo del Deseo also known as Second Chance is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by Telemundo and Film in Florida. This telenovela aired in several countries like Iran, Argentina, Malaysia, Poland, Philippines, Slovakia , Spain and Arab World on MBC Drama...
) but always in the middle of nowhere or better yet it could be anywhere.
Female figures: The female
Female
Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...
figure in Jiménez's telenovelas is always bewildering and distinguishes for its strength and self appreciation. A heroine in a J.J. telenovela imposes respect for herself without demanding it; merely her presence seems to inspire it. Julio’s women are peculiar in one way or another. Whether a woman incapable of crying (Yo amo a Paquita Gallego) or a tough woman of principles (Sarita in Pasión de gavilanes) or even one that is capable of killing (El cuerpo del deseo
El Cuerpo del Deseo
El cuerpo del Deseo also known as Second Chance is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by Telemundo and Film in Florida. This telenovela aired in several countries like Iran, Argentina, Malaysia, Poland, Philippines, Slovakia , Spain and Arab World on MBC Drama...
) is still a figure you sympathize with and at the same time you are mesmerized by her.
Use of nature: Jiménez gives nature
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
a part in all his telenovelas; as he said himself in Pasion de gavilanes he “put the heroes on a horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
and made the landscape
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
”.
Jiménez has an inclination towards water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
too; he always uses the element of water in his telenovelas. Whether a heroine drowns
Drowning
Drowning is death from asphyxia due to suffocation caused by water entering the lungs and preventing the absorption of oxygen leading to cerebral hypoxia....
herself in a river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
(Pasión de gavilanes), drowns somebody in a lake
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
(El cuerpo del deseo
El Cuerpo del Deseo
El cuerpo del Deseo also known as Second Chance is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by Telemundo and Film in Florida. This telenovela aired in several countries like Iran, Argentina, Malaysia, Poland, Philippines, Slovakia , Spain and Arab World on MBC Drama...
) or is simply presented having as a favorite place a lake (La viuda de blanco 1996), water is always there in the work of Jiménez.
External links
- Julio Jimenez in the 10 best writers
- History of Television in Colombia
- Colombian Television and imagination
- El cuerpo del deseo: A New Incarnation for Telenovelas
- Body of Desire
- Julio Jimenez in IMDB
- Official website of El cuerpo del deseo DVD box
- Official website of Pasion de gavilanes DVD box
- Review and sale of El Deseo Ajeno