Literally: "Maria from the Ghetto/Neighborhood". A popular Mexican
telenovela starring singer Thalia, which skyrocketed her to international fame, as well as Fernando Colunga and Itati Cantoral to a lesser extent. It is a remake of the popular 1979 telenovela "Los ricos también lloran" (The Rich Also Cry).
Maria is a
15-year-old orphan girl who loses her godmother, but before she passes, she asks the local priest not to leave Maria to fend for herself. The priest begs his wealthy benefactor, Don Fernando, to let Maria live in his home as a servant, but the man instead brings Maria in as his ward, drawing the ire of his wife Victoria and her niece, Soraya. Maria falls in love with the Don's
Troubled, but Cute son, Luis Fernando, but also has to fight for his affections with the treacherous Soraya and her accomplices.
If you want to think about a
Trope Codifier of the modern audience's view of a Spanish telenovela, look no further. The show contained several catfights, staged pregnancies, faked deaths, and heaps of drama.
Maria la del Barrio also had a recent resurgence in popularity among Spanish speakers because of ridiculous antics of the main villain Soraya, as well as a remake for Filipino audiences in 2011.
The novela contains examples of:
- Adults Are Useless - After Nandito gets stabbed and Esperanza is badly beaten up, there's a group of 5-6 adults simply standing around wondering if there's anything they could do.
- The Alcoholic - Luis Fernando
- The Atoner - Penelope after Maria's Heroic Sacrifice.
- Beautiful All Along - Maria isn't by any stretch ugly, but she is given lessons in etiquette and language to turn her from a simple country girl into a proper lady.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension - Between Maria and Luis Fernando, although this mostly faded as they both grew up. Luis's bouts of anger are definitely not played for laughs later, though.
- Betty and Veronica - Maria (Betty) and Soraya (Veronica) for Luis Fernando and Vladimir (Betty) and Luis Fernando (Veronica) for Maria.
- Black Widow - Soraya
- Break the Cutie - Most of the show consisted of bad things happening to either Maria, Alicia, or Nandito.
- The Cast Showoff - Thalia sang the novela's opening song, and also sang during the show.
- Cat Fight
- Chandler's Law
- Chewing the Scenery - Soraya during the infamous Maldita Lisiada scene.
- Cinderella Circumstances
- Contrived Coincidence - Maria kept continously running into Nandito, who was the son that she had abandoned shortly after she gave birth.
- Dawson Casting / Playing Gertrude - Maria, Soraya, and Luis Fernando were played by the same actors even after 20 years had gone by on the show. Thalia first appears as Maria as a 15-year old when she was 24 at the time and Itati Cantoral first plays an 18-year old Soraya at 20 years old. They don't even bother changing other characters' appearances.
- The Dulcinea Effect - A kindly doctor decides to take in Maria during her bout of amnesia.
- Drowning My Sorrows
- Easy Amnesia - Maria has two such instances of amnesia, the first of which after her pregnancy when she gives up her child, and the second after her time in prison.
- Easily Forgiven - The maid just tried to stab her employer? It's okay, she was just having an off day.
- '80s Hair - On the main cast, only Luis Fernando, but his ex-girlfriend Brenda had huge poofy 80s hair. This series was from the mid-90s.
- Mr. Fanservice - Luis Fernando
- Expository Theme Tune -Sung by Thalia helself.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas - Horribly averted.
- Evil Is Hammy - Soraya
- Evil Laugh
- Faking the Dead
- Fish out of Water - Maria in the De La Vega household, at first.
- Gene Hunting
- Giggling Villain - Soraya becomes one eventually.
- Girls Behind Bars - Not sexualized at all and is simply played for drama. Maria becomes ruthless in order to survive in prison.
- Gold Digger - Both Soraya and Penelope.
- Gossipy Hens - Carlota, mainly.
- Hannibal Lecture
- Happily Adopted
- Heartwarming Orphan - Maria
- Heel Face Turn - Penelope, after believing that Maria died in the prison fire.
- Heroic BSOD - Maria goes through one during her pregnancy. The first time, at least.
- Heroic Sacrifice - Maria during the prison fire, although she doesn't die.
- Hollywood Healing
- Idiot Ball - A lot of the drama would have been resolved in the 2nd part of the show if Maria just told her husband that Nandito was their son.
- Ill Girl - Alicia, the infamous MALDITA LISIADA!
- Instant Death Bullet
- Kissing Cousins - Nobody bats an eye to Luis Fernando and Soraya getting married, this is because Soraya isn't actually Victoria's niece.
- Knife Nut - Penelope
- Luke, I Am Your Father - Calixta's revelation that she is actually Soraya's mother.
- Love Makes You Evil
- Makeover Montage - Maria's "transformation" into a true lady.
- Mama Bear - You do not want to get in between Maria and her children.
- A Man Is Not a Virgin
- May-December Romance - Nandito and Soraya. Luis Fernando also assumed Nandito was Maria's lover before he knew better.
- Murder the Hypotenuse - Oh, Soraya
- The Nineties
- Not Quite Dead
- Pair the Spares
- Parental Abandonment
- Parental Substitute - Esperanza for Alicia. Lupe and Don Fernando for Maria.
- Plucky Girl - Maria
- Police Are Useless - The police only ever turn up at the right moment twice.
- Put on a Bus - Vladimir mysteriously disappears forever after Maria turns him down. According to the actor, there was going to be a further plotline where he became involved with Soraya, but it never happened.
- Luis Fernando's sister Vanessa disappears in the second half of the show as well.
- Pygmalion Plot
- Rich Bitch - Soraya
- Self-Made Orphan - Soraya
- Smug Snake - Soraya
- Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome - At least they used a time skip to explain the kids getting older.
- Talking Your Way Out - Maria tries this when Soraya has kidnapped her and she regains her memory, but by then Soraya has completely lost her shit.
- Tell Me About My Father
- They Do
- Time Skip
- Title Drop - Maria is often called "Maria, la del barrio" as an insult.
- Troubled, but Cute - Luis Fernando
- Unwanted Harem - Maria attracts just about every eligible bachelor on the show.
- Villainous Breakdown
- What Could Have Been - Vladimir's aforementioned planned storyline.
- Who's Your Daddy?
- Wicked Stepmother - Soraya eventually.
- Wig, Dress, Accent
- Yandere - Soraya and Penelope. Soraya eventually evolves into just being Ax Crazy.
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