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| Osmel Sousa "the big bad wolfe" |
Beauty pageants are just like "Mexican Telenovelas."You have your "villain," your "supporting cast," "a heroin" in this occasion there's a few and finally the one thing all these girls are fighting for "The Miss Universe Crown." In this occasion we, the audience, do our own casting, scripting and editing. For example take a country like Venezuela the default villainess due to their amazing training and Osmel Sousa. The true villain in this story. Venezuela is the big, bad wolf. Now take a country like Czech Republic who in the past has been gaining some steam in the pageant world. They have placed four consecutive years and four other times since they debuted in 1993. Czech Republic is the triumphant Cinderella.
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| Karin Ontiveros |
This year, the star of the show is neither a villainess or a heroine. As if to reflect our milieu of increasing moral ambivalence, we have elevated Karin Ontiveros from Mexico to superstar statues. The theme of this year's Miss Universe is all about ambition, how it inspires us, hot it motivates us, what it compels us to do, and how far we will go in order to attain it.
(In fact, even the host city is a textbook case of ambition: Brazil a country in South American who at one time was considered a power house of beauty, with inadequate infrastructure, host's the olympics of beauty.)
When asked why she thinks that the alumnae of Germany's Next Top Model are more successful than their American counterparts, Heidi Klum remarked that it's because she chooses girls based on their model potential, not their drama queen potential. It was a thinly-veiled criticism of Tyra Banks, of course, who has a penchant for psychoanalyzing her wards into blubbering mass of tears.
But never mind; Tyra's show is incredibly successful because it is highly entertaining.
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| Miss China |
Admittedly, Miss Univere 2011 wouldn't be as memorable than if Karin didn't finish as 1st Runner-Up. It would be an incredible image, witnessing the culmination of all her travails, training and transformation crystallize into one, single moment. And then *WHAM!* She's defeated by an underdog, like, say, Miss China. (Heidi Klum would approve, Tyra wouldn't.)
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| Ruth Ocumarez |
You could argue that it would be just as incredible if Karin missed the cut completely. She's be remembered as this year's winner of the Ruth Ocumarez Award, except that Karin actually out-Ruthed Ruth Ocumarez. There's far bigger hype built around Karin than there ever was with Ruth. And, lest we forget, Karin is actually reported as a nice girl (Eureka! Editing!), while Ruth was reported as a real pain-why would one ever admit that her sole weakness is her "perfection?"To be sure, the tittle "Miss Universe" is littered with the skeletons of a million ambitious girls (which makes me wonder if Trump & Co realize the magnitude of responsibility that rest on them). Why is Karin different? |
| "La Traidora" |
Simple. Whether you admit it or not, Karin has managed, one time or another, to elicit a strong reaction from you. You either like or dislike her. You are never ambivalent about her, whether it's truly about her merits as a pageant contestant. She's not only trying to pull a "Venezuela" achieving a back to back this year for Mexico, but she has also been photographed with this year's Miss USA Alysa Campanella. Her perceived ass-kissing to Trump, Trump's purported reciprocal affection, and ensuing surgeries, blah blah blah.Karin is a telenovela, by herself. It could be called "La Traidora," or just as easily, "Betty la Fea."
It's impossible to ignore Karin.
Her pageant pedigree, her entertaining back story, the equal amount of her exquisite photos, and yes the depth of her ambition, make her immensely watchable.
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| Alicia Machado |
But is a drama queen equal to a beauty queen?
Why not ask Alicia Machado?
Let the peanuts fly!
