Anyone else a non-spanish speaking person watching this show?
I casually watch telenovelas to help learn spanish, and came across Xica, and now I can't wait for the next episode! Now I even have to translate for my hubby (with my meager spanish skills) while I watch. I sure wish they would release this on DVD with subtitles.
(My favorite character is Jose Maria)
--- Karen
Hi, Karen:
count me as another gringo who loves the show - I just ran across it a few weeks ago, after I switched my cable package back to basic (that was one gratuitous price hike too many, Comcast) and started watching more Spanish-language TV to fill in the gaps. Mas boxeo, mas futbol, mas telenovelas - it's all good.
It's pretty silly stuff, but great fun to watch, better than most
telenovelas because of its somewhat historical aspect and nice scenery
(and I'm not just talking about the countryside, woo woo. ;) Gives me a
chance to practice my gringo-spanish, too. "Eres tan bonita, Xica - te
amo con todo mi corazon, por todo mi vida - now gimme some sugar,
babycakes." (of course I'd have to translate that back into Portuguese
were I attempting a real "el moovo muy smoovo" with the lovely Ms. Silva.)
Last night's episode - couldn't believe it! El comendador muy
guapo meets some other piece of skirt last, and immediately forgets
all about poor, lovely, devoted Xica - bastard! (I vaguely remember
something about a slave revolt, too, but that was way less important).
OK, I admit the piece of skirt did her best to seduce him by
ripping her bodice as soon as she saw him down by by the river where
they had their tryst, but c'mon - that's the oldest trick in the book, I
can't believe the supposedly steely-willed comendador fell for it. I'm
still very distraught about the whole thing, as you can see ... why, I've
got a mind to give him an earful during tonight's episode. :)
Hoping to find someone selling VHS or DVD of this on ebay, so I can catch up on the episodes I missed.
Cheers,
-E
Ay Dios mio! No kidding about Comendador Horndog... geez...
shareI know what an ass!!!!! Sleeping with that girl and she still has the nerve to go back to xicas house and live there!!He doesnt love her though he said himself he just has to have her even though xica is in is blood. I remember i saw this when i was younger the first time it came out but now its much more interesting because i get it more. Its great.
I speak spanish by the way so i get it, I dont think i would get what was going on if i didnt.
ShyGirl8 escriba:
"I speak spanish by the way so i get it, I dont think i would get what was going on if i didnt."
You'd be surprised how little Spanish you need to know to follow the main plot elements - mainly us gringos just have to keep our orejas open for keywords that sound similar in english: for instance, it didn't take too much to figure out what was going on with Señor José Maria being accusado of being "un sodomita". (Lucky for him he got some help last night in weaseling out of that one. The scene where one of the key witnesses-to-be against him - the priest - got muy busted while being mauled facially by La Bruja apasionada, that was pretty funny. Pobre Padre Guapo, his heart and his vows are speaking 2 different languages. ;)
I'm sure I miss a lot of the more-subtle details, of course, but I do try.
Couple of small questions about some of the conversational conventions, though:
- The upper-class folks keep referring to each other as "su merced" - is that some kind of highly formal old-fashioned addressing convention, used in place of the simpler modern "usted"? Is is specific to Portuguese (i.e. they have to translate it that way to get the lip-syncing right in the spanish dubbing), or was Spanish also like this around that historical time period?
- I only started watching this about 3 weeks ago, so missed the earlier episodes - coulsd someone fill me in on how Xica rises from her (presumed) slave-girl status to the high status she enjoys? Her mother is a dark-black slave, so I'm guessing maybe Xica is the daughter resulting from an affair between a wealthy landowner and her mother? Is her father one of the regular cast members?
Thanks!
-E
-"Su merced" is just how they use to talk back then but its basically the same meaning as "usted". The slaves use that as well thugh so its not just an upper class thing.
-Xica is half white. Her father was the father of paulina, martin, and clara (which makes claras bretayal all the more worst) so theyre half brothers and sisters. I also didnt see the very first episodes but apparently it was xicas fault that her father and her half-siblings lost their wealth because she and kiloa stole his diamonds when she was still a slave.
Xica was a former slave of violante and her family. Since violante was engaged to "el comendador" he saw xica there and fell in love with her. I forgot if he bought her from them or if he asked for her as a present but violante was mad at him for asking for her in front of everybody at the party they were having. Violantes father liked her as well so it was hard for him to let her go.
Then since she lived with him they just fell in love.
Thanks ShyGirl - that was very helpful. I didn't know Xica and Clara were half-sisters. (Ouch!)
No wonder Violante and Xica always look like they want to scratch each other's eyes out whenever they're in the same room.
So Xica basically bought her current status with stolen diamonds? (I originally thought maybe her father died and left his estate to her).
Xica gained her status through the Comendador's love for her. He was engaged to Violante, but the jungle drums played everytime he and Xica's eyes met. At the fiesta of their "compromiso" he asked Violante's dad for "la esclava, Xica".
everyone was scandalized esp. Violante. I think papa gave Xica as a wedding present. She was well treated in his house (after being repeatededly raped by Violante's icky dad it must have been heaven) and set about to seduce el comendador. Which she did, with much success. He gave her her freedom papers, but she stayed because she loves him. Miss V was very unhappy and gave him an ultimatum, get rid of Xica or else. guess who he chose?
Yeah, the guy who plays Violante's dad gives me the creeps. Even though I realize he's just an actor playing a part, he almost plays it too well, if you get what I mean. I call him "old snake eyes" because that's what those beady eyes of his remind me of.
Last night's episode: "Ladies and Gentlemen, lend me your ears." Seems like Xica has quite a nasty sadistic streak herself, although perhaps not unexpected given the way she's been treated while growing up. Well, the Comendador *did* say to his new honey-bunny that he liked to nibble on her ears... (I'm assuming that's who the ones Xica served at dinner belonged to.)
BTW, if anyone ever served *me* diamonds in my dinner I'd just swallow them whole and then later "lay diamond eggs", so to speak. Poop your way to riches! "I'd like a second helping please, with lots of extra-spicy diamantes..."
"Last night's episode: "Ladies and Gentlemen, lend me your ears." Seems like Xica has quite a nasty sadistic streak herself"
I had a very bad feeling when El Comendador admired Clara's ears... in an earlier episode he admired a pretty slave's teeth... turned out that Jacinto is quite the accomplished dentist.... eeesh...
I can't wait for the boda de Jose Maria and Elvira la meritriz... have a feeling that should not be missed!
No, xica didnt buy her status. The diamonds stayed with Kiloa since she didnt want people to know that she helped to steal them. She has wealth because of "el comendador". Her father wanted nothing to do with her.
shareOK, please help este Gringo make sure he understood the recent goings-on correctly: es correcto o no?
1) Sargento Cabral has asked el Comendador to be stationed at some remote outpost? Is that to escape his family woes? Is he planning to come back and help his stepmother escape the evil wife-beating clutches of his father Old Snake Eyes somehow?
2) The husband of the pregnant gal who's currently under house arrest by the sadistic nun with lesbian tendencies (forget the names) - Clara is his sister, so now he's vowed to take revenge on Xica for what Xica did to her? And why does everyone think his wife is (a) possessed by the devil, and (b) not really his wife? And since he did manage to find a witness to his marriage (the young girl who showed her pechas bonitas to the young soldado - I realize that doesn't narrow things down much in the context of *this* series ;), wouldn't that settle the issue? (And why wouldn't thye priest who married them qualify as a witness?)
3) Is Clara dead or not? I thought I caught Xica's mom saying something to Clara's brother about Clara not being dead. If she's not dead, where is she? (I'm guessing she's not out buying new earrings, though.)
4) What was all that chatter by el Comendador Man-Whore about "test of love" - was that referring to his affair with Clara or to the ear-cutting-off thing? and how could he love Xica more after what she did to Clara? That whole thing has me really confused.
Thanks in advance por su ayudo y paciencia conmigo!
1) Sargento Cabral has asked el Comendador to be stationed at some remote outpost? Is that to escape his family woes? Is he planning to come back and help his stepmother escape the evil wife-beating clutches of his father Old Snake Eyes somehow?
2) The husband of the pregnant gal who's currently under house arrest by the sadistic nun with lesbian tendencies (forget the names) - Clara is his sister, so now he's vowed to take revenge on Xica for what Xica did to her? And why does everyone think his wife is (a) possessed by the devil, and (b) not really his wife? And since he did manage to find a witness to his marriage (the young girl who showed her pechas bonitas to the young soldado - I realize that doesn't narrow things down much in the context of *this* series ;), wouldn't that settle the issue? (And why wouldn't thye priest who married them qualify as a witness?)
3) Is Clara dead or not? I thought I caught Xica's mom saying something to Clara's brother about Clara not being dead. If she's not dead, where is she? (I'm guessing she's not out buying new earrings, though.)
4) What was all that chatter by el Comendador Man-Whore about "test of love" - was that referring to his affair with Clara or to the ear-cutting-off thing? and how could he love Xica more after what she did to Clara? That whole thing has me really confused.
Thanks in advance por su ayudo y paciencia conmigo!
Once again, muchos gracias for the backstory, Damfino - loved your hilarious "Cliff's Notes" summary of the Earlobes-for-dinner scene. :D
>>>Now to see what will happen when Jose Maria gets the "bano de boa"
Ha ha, that was hilarious - that snake sure seems to like sniffing around pasty white men's hairy armpits... anyway, I laughed myself silly when it was clear that el Ban~o had only made him *more* attractive to his own kind... "Oh si, Sen~or Jose Maria - me got a Boa for su merced, right here en mis pantalones..."
The backstories about "Madre de agua" Clara and Don Martin and Maria Dolores were very helpful - DM and MD's scheme to have her "die" at the altar is very much like the lovers' plot in Romeo and Juliet. The whole she's-not-quite-dead thing reminds of Monty Python: there's the famous dead-parrot sketch (Pet-store clerk to irate customer who wants to return a dead parrot: "It's not dead ... it's resting..."), and the "Dear Concord" scene in MP&The Holy Grail: "I'm not dead yet, sire - I think I could pull through..."
I recently discovered that vthere's another fun historical costume drama on during the same weekday time slot on the AZN Asian network, this one involving samurai-style intrigues (It's called "Jumong" or "Chumong", actually Korean, but very reminiscent of Japanese samurai dramas) - so now I'm having to use the VCR ever night so I can catch them both.
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It looked to me more like the money was what tempted her... She better look out, Violante does not have a good history of coming through on her promises, and Xica is not forgiving when comes to betrayal!
Catalina arrived on the scene strangely; Jose Maria and Felix found her in the road on fire. I believe she said her husband did it. They took her to Xica's house where she became part of the "corte de Xica da Silva".
I've always thought there was something fishy about her ....
I remember watchng this in 2000, I haven't seen this show until I was fliping channels and I seen it was on.I didn't even know it was made in 96. I also don't speak spanish but still watched the show.
sharehello, they have the dvds on ebay BRAZIL, but i don't know if they have subtitles. i have seen this telenovela when it was first aired acouple of years ago, and wathching it again.
shareHi! I'm a Chinese American who is learning Spanish (I basically took four years of formal Spanish classes in school) and I started watching Xica to improve my Spanish. I really like this telenovela. I just want to know, what is wrong with the Comendador? Does he just have to sleep with every woman who gives him a "come hither" look? Geez...
shareI developed an infatuation for both Martin and Luis Felipe; both were very romantic guys. I also like the storekeeper, Felix; his situation with Gracia and the harpsichord was hilarious and very romantic. Xavier and Ursula were adorable together. Really, so much to like about the show.
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