Author: ---)
Date: 06-15-04 06:29 PDT
No specific event led to Mel's family deciding she needed
a bodyguard, just a desire for greater security. Kidnappings
of the wealthy (or even the perceived wealthy) for ransom
is apparently a common crime in Latin America. Mexican actress
Laura Zapata and one of her sisters (both of them sisters
of actress-singer Thalía), were kidnapped for ransom
I think last year or the year before. Since Mel is the granddaughter
and daugther of two prominent and very wealthy businessmen,
her family felt that she might be at risk. I think it would
have been better if the writer had had the Ferraz family find
out about some other kidnapping and make that the cause for
worry, rather than just deciding out of the blue that Mel
needed a bodyguard. There is a reason, though, that the writer
needs to get Xande into this part of the picture. If you have
not yet seen the novela, you will soon find out what the reason
is.
As for the exotic makeup and brightly-colored veils, I recall
reading somewhere that Muslim women are not allowed to wear
makeup, but I do not know how accurate that is. I suppose
it varies from country to country, and from family to family.
Certain families are stricter than others. A lot depends on
what your husband or father will allow you to do. Pay attention
the next time there is a "party scene" in the novela.
Notice that Jade will be the only woman in the room not wearing
a veil, and sometimes wears outfits that are rather revealing,
even in mixed company, while all the other women are fully
covered. We suspect that this is because whoever designed
the scene wanted to draw attention to Jade as the main character.
On the forum (or was it the last forum?), we've decided to
explain this anomaly by pointing out that Said is a less strict
husband than, say, Mohammed. He doesn't mind so much that
his wife be unveiled, as long as she is indoors and the men
who see her are relatives or trusted friends of himself or
his host.
Also to remember when observing the dress of the characters:
these characters are from wealthy families. Ordinary women
in any part of the world, not just Morocco, would not wear
the beautiful embroidered silks and expensive jewelry on a
daily basis the way the novela characters do.
I have read that in real life, bellydancing, or rather "Middle
Eastern" style of dance (it has various names), is what
regular people, hosts and guests, dance at the parties, the
way that people in the West might dance a waltz or any other
dance . As for hiring a professional dancer to entertain,
I hear that it is most common at weddings (again, whether
or not there is a dancer and how covered-up she is depends
on the strictness of the particular area). In the novela,
however, there seems to be at least one hired dancer at every
family get-together. How common this is in real life, though,
we'd have to get one of the forum members who's lived in North
Africa or the Middle East to tell us.
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