Category Archives: TV

Latinos seen as super-sexual the world over

Rudolph Valentino, “Latin Lover” of yore

Woo-hoo, I’m back, folks! I’m all moved into the new digs and am 95% unpacked. And being unpacked means I can refocus on work (teaching/research) . . . which in turn means that I can procrastinate in earnest and get back to blogging. Yay!

As ever before, I’m riled up about representations of Latin@s in the media–in this case, the international media. For this just in: 18 Again, a ”vaginal tightening” gel from India promises to make you feel “like a virgin” at any age. Which, of course, is just what every woman wants because the first time is always so pleasurable and all. (Fun fact that I must mention here: my first time was with a guy who had the surname of “Laycock.” Yes, Laycock. I’m serious–you can’t make this sh*t up!) I found out about this lovely product from this post over at Jezebel.

So what does this have to do with Latin@s? Well, check out the video for 18 Again:

Surely you will notice that the couple at the center of the video performs salsa- and tango-inspired moves to a hodgepodge of “Latin” sounds, including strumming, flamenco-style guitars; bongo drums; conga rhythms; and even a shrill samba whistle, thrown in for good measure. Why is this music playing instead of something more specific to the culture that produced the product?

The answer seems obvious to me: In the minds of many people–in the US and clearly well beyond–Latin@s have a lock-down on all things sexual. Because we are by nature hot-blooded, passionate, sensuous, ready to bust out salsa moves at the drop of a hat…ugh. I find this stereotype so exasperating.

It reminds me of a feature article I read in Glamour back in the late 1990s. The title was something like, “10 Reasons to Try a Latin Lover.” The piece began by saying, “Fortunately, you don’t have to be Columbian, Brazilian or Puerto Rican to experience the prowess of Latin men!” It also included several testimonies from white women whose world had been rocked when they slept with said “Latin” men. One of the women dreamily observed, “I loved dating Ramon. He was literally HOT to the touch!”

Just thinking about this article makes me want to vomit. At the time, I was so irate I had to pen an angry letter to the editor explaining why the article was so offensive. I clearly recall that my letter began, “Fortunately, ‘you don’t have to be Columbian, Brazilian or Puerto Rican’ to realize how stupid this article is.”

So here’s a special announcement for the makers of 18 Again and anyone else who cares to perpetuate this pernicious ethnic stereotype: Latin@s do not have any special sexual secrets, techniques or powers. Although our skin may come in various shades of brown and our families sometimes come from tropical regions, we are just like any other group of people when it comes to sex. And not every “Latin lover” is worthy of the title. Trust me, I know, I’ve been with some of them. They’re not always worth writing home about!

Mourning Lupe Ontiveros

Lupe Ontiveros

Sad news today: the one and only Chicana actor Lupe Ontiveros lost her battle with liver cancer. She was only 69 years old. (Yes, I say “only” because my parents are just a couple of years younger and they are still, in my mind, young enough for my sister and me to not have to worry about their dying any time soon. To me, “old” is my grandma, who just turned 94.)

Born in 1942 in El Paso, Texas, Lupe bucked the trends from an early age by graduating from high school and earning a bachelor’s degree, a notable accomplishment for a Chicana of her generation (as even today, according to some figures, only 46% of Chicanos graduate from high school and only 8% earn a BA. For more info on such statistics, please check out my Latina/os in Academia post). After working for some time in social services, Lupe managed to transform her work as a film and TV extra into a long, outstanding, full-time career.

Although Lupe frequently was cast as a maid–by her estimate, at least 150 times–she fully embodied such roles, so that instead of stereotypes, they became real people, living with dignity and humor, and making the best of their circumstances. As she told the LA Weekly in 2002,

I’ve had a hell of a good time playing those maids. No matter how much I resent the stupidity that is written into them, the audacity that the industry has when they portray us in such a nonsensical, idiotic, such — oh my God! — such a degrading manner, still, my humor survives in these maids. I’m very proud of them.

One of her performances that my mom and I love best is her turn as Nacha in El Norte. In one scene below, Nacha mentors recent immigrant Rosa over lunch after an INS raid at their factory (scene starts at 2:30):

To this day, my mom loves to say, “Qué tú no has conocido a Sears?!”

In 2010, the National Association of Latino Independent Producers honored Lupe with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Here’s a short video that shows the range of her work and the impact she had on her colleagues:

R.I.P Lupe. Thanks for sharing your talent with the world and please know that your legacy will live on.

Hey, Aubrey Plaza is Latina!

Actor Aubrey Plaza

Today, I’m veering away from Comedy Week to talk about briefly about race at the movies.

Yesterday I went with a friend to see Safety Not Guaranteed, a quirky little film about three reporters trying to get to the bottom of a mysterious man seeking a time traveling partner. I liked everything about it: the performances, storyline, soundtrack. I recommend it! You can see the trailer here.

[Quick aside: It was a miracle that I managed to enjoy the movie at all because two elderly white ladies sitting directly behind us giggled at every single thing that happened in the movie. And I mean everything. A character stacks soup cans? Giggle. A character sneezes? Giggle. A car drives past some trees? Giggle. I had already shushed their loud chatter during the previews, but I was not prepared for the constant giggling once the film was underway. Yes, the movie is a comedy, but not every single minute is meant to be laugh-out-loud. At first I chalked it up to white privilege (not giving a damn about other people's movie experience), but looking back, I suspect that they were high. In which case, go grandmas!]

The lead character of Safety, Darius, is played by Aubrey Plaza, an actor and comedian who I guess is a regular on the TV show Parks and Recreation. Before this movie, I’d only seen her in the film Funny People. She strikes me as the smart, semi-hipsterish, a little awkward, dead-pan humor type. As I watched the film, I felt a connection to her simply out of gratitude that here was a different looking actress on the screen, in a lead role, no less. Don’t get me wrong, she’s totally gorgeous, but just not in the usual mainstream way:

Plaza as Darius in Safety Not Guaranteed

Today, in preparing to write about the film, I googled her name and discovered that she’s Latina. Her father is Puerto Rican, and she has described herself as “the only diverse” kid in her hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. “Aha!” I thought, “I knew there was something extra special about her!”

Notably, in an interview with David Letterman, her ethnicity doesn’t come up as a topic of conversation at all. Meanwhile, what George Lopez describes as her “exotic makeup” is one of the main issues during her visit to his show, Lopez Tonight. Ugh! Lopez uses one of my most hated keywords, “exotic.” It’s bad enough when white people describe us as exotic, but et tu, George?

Plaza admits that many people are surprised to find out that she’s Puerto Rican. “It comes out of me when I drink,” she jokes her in deadpan way. “I get really spicy.” This part of the interview starts at 1:15 in the video:

It’s interesting to think of Plaza as being on a continuum of Latina beauty, one that’s far outside of what people imagine when they hear “Latina” generally or, in this case, Puerto Rican specifically. In the eyes of the mainstream, being Latina is most accurately represented by someone like JLo, with more tan skin:

The one and only JLo

Though–ahem–let’s not forget that JLo was not always she of the straight, golden hair:

Jennifer Lopez, still fresh off “the block”

Of course, there are also those gorgeous Puertroriqueñas like Rosie Perez, as seen here in the opening to Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing:

And let’s not forget afro-caribeñas like Zoe Saldana, who, at the other end of the Latina beauty spectrum from Plaza, is also so far outside the mainstream’s idea of what constitutes “Latina” that she can be reasonably cast as a southern African American sorority girl in Drumline:

Not that I see myself as a spokesperson for all Latinas, but I’m happy to welcome Aubrey Plaza to the umbrella term that is “Latina.” For in supporting performances like hers in Safety Not Guaranteed, we have a chance to broaden people’s assumptions about what Latinas look like, how they sound, and how they act. There’s no one way to define us. And that’s a good thing. I hope she keeps winning new fans and surprising them when they discover her mixed ethnicity.

Anjelah Johnson: Antidote for a case of the Mondays

It’s another Monday. I have only one week left in my apartment, have barely started packing, have a huge list of “to do”s and am struggling to meet a writing deadline.

You know what that means: I gotta get out of here, or I’m gonna lose it. Yes, a dreaded case of the Mondays.

Fortunately, though, there’s an effective antidote: Mexican American comedian Anjelah Johnson. She hails from San Jose, California and, in addition to being Mexican, proudly claims Native American heritage, too. She’s best know for two characters: The first is Tammy, the Vietnamese nail technician.

And then there’s the one and only Bon Qui Qui, who takes your order at King Burger (thanks to the “Out of the Hood Program”) and serves it up with a huge dollop of ghetto-fabulous attitude:

And now Bon Qui Qui’s back! In a video for her new single, “I’m a Cut You.”

So if you are like me and battling a case of the Mondays, just sit back and let Anjelah’s comedy work its magic! Happy Monday!

Project Runway’s Chicana: Deported from the runway

Designer Beatrice Guapo from Season 10 of Project Runway

In recent months, I have made a dramatic change in my life: I have been watching much less television than ever before. The only time I watched less than I do now was in my senior year of college, when I moved in with my then-boyfriend, a history grad student who saw himself as far too intellectual to partake of pastimes that entertain the masses. By contrast, the all-time high came when I was married, because watching television was more or less the only thing my ex-husband and I did together; each night came with a particular schedule of shows. It was very depressing. Lately, though, I’ve been so busy that I made an inadvertent, surprising discovery: The less I TV watch, the less I miss it. I realize now that for the most part, TV provided a background chatter so I didn’t feel so alone during the day as I worked from home.

That being said, however, there are three shows that I commit to watching, no matter what: Mad Men, Top Chef and Project Runway.

So you can imagine my excitement that a new season of Project Runway just debuted last night. Woo-hoo! And–hold onto your seats, folks–there was a Chicana contestant vying for the ultimate prize!

She is 28-year-old Beatrice Guapo from Southern California. Pretty, personable, and seemingly down-to-earth, totally not one of the attention-hogging diva designers. In the hour-long “Road to the Runway” preview that aired before the season premier, we saw pictures, like the one below, of Beatrice with her family, and in one touching moment, she tearfully spoke of losing her father.

La familia Guapo, rockin’ classic ’80s style.

The clothes she designs are drapey jerseys and knits, comfy-but-stylish concoctions designed for the chic, modern woman-on-the-go. (An incredibly skinny white woman-on-the-go, but still, I get it.)

What more did I need to see? I was on board: Her clothes look like something I’d wear and, as a bonus, she’s Chicana. Go, Beatrice!

I began to get worried, though, as soon as Beatrice admitted to having trouble sewing and needing more time for her designs than the challenges would allow. And sure enough, the dream of a Chicana designer actually walking away with the top honors ended all too soon. Beatrice was the first contestant to whom Heidi Klum bid “auf wiedersehen” on behalf of the judges’ panel.

It turns out that the judges were not a fan of what she sent out onto the runway. First, there was a gray knit dress paired with a printed cape:

And a gray knit skirt and shiny, gauzy shirt combo:

The judges didn’t like the “sad” colors of her designs and didn’t think she effectively articulated a larger design vision, beyond an enthusiasm for knits and jerseys.

Michael Kors went as far as to describe the cape from her first look as an “Aztec bathroom rug”:

One online commentator (I can’t seem to find the link now) wonders whether there’s a racial meaning behind Kors’ description: Beatrice is Mexican, therefore an ugly pattern she picked must be “Aztec.” The viewer who left the comment thought that the pattern could be better described as “Navajo.” Though his choice of words didn’t strike me as racist when I saw the show, it’s an interesting read. I thought I’d throw it out there…discuss amongst yourselves. (Btw, I googled “Aztec bathroom rug” and actually found one here.)

To me, an even more critical, unexamined racial moment is when Beatrice gives a walk-through of her apartment and holds up a glass monkey designed by her grandfather:

Woah! Note to Beatrice: Please educate yourself ASAP on the history of minstrelsy and racist sambo imagery, mmmkay? I know that your grandpa made it and it has sentimental value for you, but this is not something to proudly display. Yes, Mexicans have their own terrible history of racism towards people with African ancestry. Check out Afro-Netizen’s post about sambo stamps printed in Mexico in 2005. Yikes!

Okay, back to the show: To her credit, Beatrice took the news of her elimination like a trooper, politely thanking the judges for the opportunity and managing not to shed a tear on camera as she bid farewell to the other contestants. In her exit interview, she calmly shrugs and expresses a wish to have simply experimented with her fabrics while she had a chance. She seems like she has a strong sense of self, and I wish her good luck in her future endeavors!

Nevertheless, even though Beatrice left the competition before getting to show us her broader range, it was just a thrill for me to finally see on television a positive representation of a real-life Chicana pursuing her passion. For one wonderful, ephemeral moment, here was on national TV a Chicana to whom I could relate. Of course, I don’t know Beatrice in real life, and despite the “real life” they claim to portray, reality television shows are highly crafted fictions who exploit certain kinds of characters for drama and entertainment. All that (plus one horrible glass sambo) aside, though, it was cool to see a Latina like me, someone who started out as a sweet but dorky, glasses-wearing kid:

to a teenager involved in extra-curriculars in school:

and finally to beautiful, successful and ambitious woman pursuing her passion:

Why can’t we see more Chicanas and Latinas like Beatrice? Someone who is not representative of the cholas and maids that we’re usually portrayed as, but instead this other kind of Chicana, one you actually might encounter in every day life. A real person, not a walking stereotype.

I must admit that the significance of this point is forever lost on some people though, like a blogger who describes Beatrice as a “spicy, exotic Latina.” Excuse me while I barf. What exactly is so exotic about her? She’s from friggin’ Marina del Rey, not Amazonia. She has blond highlights, for god’s sake!

Tonight I’m going to light a big ol’ Virgen de Guadalupe candel, light some copal and blow a conch shell to the four cardinal directions in the hopes that next season, Project Runway and/or any other reality competition might feature another Chicana, and maybe next time, she’ll make it past the first episode. Dare I continue to dream that one will make it all the way?

Romney plays the Mexican card

Mormons are on a roll lately!

Last week I wrote about the minor kurfuffle caused by Utah Valley Magazine’s white “Women of Color.” Well yesterday, I came across this story on Huffington Post: “Craig Romney Touts Family’s Mexican Roots in Spanish-Language Ad.”

Whaaaat?

According to the Latino Decisions blog, Obama leads Romney among Latino voters by a wide margin (70% to only 22%), so I’m sure the Romney camp is praying that this ad can make a difference.

Here it is:

Quick translation:

I’m Craig Romney. I want to tell you how my father, Mitt Romney, thinks. He really values that we are a nation of immigrants. My grandfather George was born in Mexico. For my family, the greatness of the US is that we all respect and help each other, no matter where we come from. As president, my father will work for a permanent solution for the immigration system, working with leaders of both political parties. I invite you listen to him.

My first thought: Wow, homeboy’s Spanish is pretty good! At least, it’s a lot better than his father’s stilted “I approve this message” addendum. Moreover, Craig’s clean-cut appearance neatly underscores the sweet, soft-focus scenes of inter-generational Latino heteronormativity.

On closer inspection, though, emerge the Republican party’s extremely facile assumptions about what will sway Latino voters. Among these wrong assumptions are:

  1. Apparently, one must speak Spanish to reach Latino voters. (In fact, the vast majority of US-born Latinos speak fluent English.)
  2. The idea that having an ancestor born in Mexico automatically translates into affinity for–over even basic familiarity with–that country’s history, cultures and traditions. Which it doesn’t.
  3. Finally, there’s the notion that merely stating a belief in the value of immigration is enough. Are Latinos not smart enough to ask, “Where’s the proof? What have you actually done to support immigrants and Latinos?”

Also among the “things that make you go ‘hmmm’” (shout out to the 1990s!) is what’s not stated: Romney’s forefathers were in Mexico because they wanted to continue their practice of polygamy , which had been outlawed in the US. How do you suppose this aspect of Romney history will go over with the 70% of Latinos who identify as Catholic? Funny how that wasn’t mentioned as part of their “Mexican” history.

This Craig Romney ad very much reminds me of when George P Bush, W’s nephew with Mexican ancestry, was conveniently trotted out to court the Latino vote for his uncle and sprinkle Spanish into campaign stops.

[Sigh.]

Do Republicans really think we Latinos are so monolithic and stupid as to be easily swayed by someone with brown skin or by someone who speaks decent Spanish? In light of the evidence, I’d say they sure do.

Hispanics live longer than other racial groups…as do their stereotypical representations

Will this be the Daily Chicana in fifty years?

A recent Center for Disease Control report indicates that a Hispanic born in 2006 has a life expectancy of 80 years, which is two years longer than whites and seven years longer than African Americans. Apparently this phenomenon is known as the “Hispanic Paradox,” thanks to the fact that researchers anticipated Hispanics to have a life expectancy akin to African Americans due to Hispanics’ overall lower levels of education, income and access to health care. Ultimately, Hispanics’ longevity is attributed to the ‘healthy migrant effect,” which is the idea that newcomers to the US tend to make healthier food choices, such as rice and beans instead of processed foods, and are accustomed to walking more than the average American.

Interesting. I just watched a video about these findings on ABC World News, in a report entitled, “Why do Hispanics Outlive White and Black Americans?” And I quickly became annoyed at how much the video relied on mainstream stereotypes about Hispanics. Check it out for yourself. (Warning: If you click on that link, you first will have to sit through an advertisement, and I hope for your sake the ad is not Emmy Rossum singing about cotton as “The Fabric of My Life,” because you will have that stupid jingle in your head for the rest of the day). You will observe the following stereotypical images and sounds:

  • Cumbia music kicking off the report (because no Hispanic ever listens to non-Spanish language music)
  • Brown-skinned pedestrians of an unnamed city walking past a huge sign that says “PESOS” (because that’s our preferred form of currency)
  • General urban scenes (because none of us grows up in the suburbs)
  • A Mexican plaza, which I think is Olvera St in Los Angeles (because Hispanics = Mexicans = living in East LA)
  • This plaza is full of trashy but colorful trinkets and two guitar-strumming balladeers singing (of course) in Spanish
  • A large family in a dingy kitchen (because we all live with untold numbers of extended relatives)
  • Finally, towards the end, reporter David Wright mentions “a little salsa dancing” as older folks dance to music that is most certainly not salsa (because all Spanish language music can be labeled “salsa”)

[Weary sigh.]

Thanks, ABC World News, for doing your part to ensure that stereotypical portrayals of “Hispanics” enjoy just as long a life as the people you’re talking about.

By the way, the best part of the video is when Wright is stumped when interviewee Elaine Hernandez says her 82-year-old grandmother’s apple-a-day is that “good ol’ red and white can.” He doesn’t get it. “Budweiser!” she says. Classic.

Confession: I wasted time yesterday

One of my goals here at the Daily Chicana is to live up to the title of my blog: to post new writing on a daily basis. Yesterday I had every intention of writing something substantial, but, as you can see by my having posted only a link to a Cure song on YouTube, I never got around to it. Today I am going to explain–or rather, confess, in the spirit of my fellow blogger, Academic Sins (tagline: “O, my dissertation, I am heartfully sorry for having neglected you”)–what went wrong yesterday and every day.

Every weekday morning, I make a pot of coffee (insofar as “a pot” can be made by a tiny 5-cup machine) and as I set out the sugar and milk, I harbor visions of myself as A Writer, a romantic figure sitting at her desk, hair glistening in the delicate light of dawn, fingers flying over the keys as she stares intensely at the laptop screen, full of energy and great ideas.

Instead, what usually happens is I don’t even roll out of bed until about 9am or so (hey, I’m still on sabbatical). As I make breakfast, I think, “I’ll just watch an episode of [Mad Men, Top Chef, Smash, Intervention or 16 and Pregnant] while I eat. It will just be 45 minutes. Then I’ll get started on my work.”

When the show is over, I spend another extended period of time checking out the TV blogs and reviews at Entertainment Weekly, Slate and Salon [especially if I've just watched Mad Men]. This is part of the problem of being a Cultural Studies type of scholar: watching TV can sort of be justified as “research” if I spend time contemplating representations of race, class, gender, sexuality, etc.

Then it is time to log into facebook, the greatest time-suck of all. Many of my fb friends are scholars who post links to interesting news stories, blogs, websites, etc. that relate to areas of my teaching, research, politics of higher ed, immigration, you name it. So facebook is a big ol’ rabbit hole even when I’m not looking at my friends’ latest vacation and/or baby pics.

After fb–and the ensuing snuggle time with my dog–and in a half-hearted attempt to get focused on my real work, I take a look at what’s happening on ProfHacker, the Job Advice articles at the Chronicle of Higher Ed and Lifehacker. I’m a sucker for productivity porn, the name for what happens when you’re so determined to become more efficient that researching how to be efficient becomes the new way to procrastinate. I am always on the lookout for new software, note taking methods, planners, to-do lists, office products…the list goes on and on. Despite many years of experience knowing there’s no single cure-all other then devotion to a daily writing practice, I still cling desperately to the belief that there is a magic product out there that will turn me into the world’s most prolific writer.

And so that’s how my day goes, until it’s time to make dinner. At times, I’ll console myself by thinking, “I can do some writing after dinner, then reward myself with a glass of wine.” Yet I go on to reason, “Well, I always do my best work in the morning, so let me just get a fresh start tomorrow. Mmm…I’ll get up early, make some coffee, sit at my desk, then start writing.” [Proceed to paragraph three above, and repeat.]

Fridays are even more of a challenge because now that I live on my own, I no longer have the budget or need for cleaning ladies, so I have to set aside a couple of hours to clean the house and do laundry. I procrastinated on these tasks yesterday by doing all of the usual wasteful activities and adding to it a stroll through Netflix, which is how I found myself at 4:30pm having accomplished absolutely no writing or cleaning but instead sitting through a random and needless viewing of the French film Mozart’s Sister.

I entered a panic: “Where has my day gone?!” I began scurrying through the house, doing a frantic cleaning. I was going to be late for meeting up with my boyfriend. Then it hit me: “I still gotta post something on my blog!” I didn’t want to let myself down with yet another of my goals. So a quick song had to suffice.

Sharing this confession wasn’t exactly the cathartic experience I envisioned. In fact, it’s pretty embarrassing. But I’m hoping that an open acknowledgment of my extreme procrastination methods is necessary step towards remaking my writing “process.” A friend once recommended a major shift in my thinking: Rather than consider academic writing something I had to do and therefore increase the likelihood that it would feel like a burden, I should instead think of writing as something I deserve to do, an activity that brings real pleasure. Many of my colleagues honor the writing process in this way; they are happy  to wrap up their grading for the semester because it means that they can finally dedicate all of their time to their writing projects. Their cheerful fb status updates say, “Just about to play my favorite song and clear my head for writing.” I yearn to be among them. Maybe one day I will be. Just as soon as I turn off the damn TV!

On Rosario Dawson as Dolores Huerta

A couple of days ago, I learned through a friend’s fb post that actor/director Diego Luna (of Y Tu Mamá También, as well as Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights fame) is making a film about the one and only Cesar Chavez, Mexican American civil-rights activist and the co-founder of the United Farm Workers (UFW) union. The film is currently entitled, Chavez. Now, I don’t ever get especially hopeful or excited about any of Hollywood’s “Hispanic” films, but in this case I am crossing my fingers that it will at least be decent enough to use in one of my undergraduate classes.

Apparently Rosario Dawson has just signed on to play Dolores Huerta, the other co-founder of the UFW. The choice of Dawson surprised me; aside from having long hair, I just don’t think they look much alike. Here is Huerta, back in the day:

Meanwhile, here is the Dawson:

At first, I thought, maybe America Ferrera would have been a better choice, but it turns out that she already was cast in the role of Chavez’s wife Helen in the film…because, you know, there’s slim pickins if you’re seeking recognizable Latina actors in Hollywood. Btw I’m not the only one who envisioned Ferrera as Huerta; check out this homage to Huerta from Glamour magazine a couple of years back:

In any case, I’m bracing for the usual outrage on the part of many Chicanos that one of our most beloved she-roes will be portrayed by someone who is not of Chicana or Mexican descent. Just remember back to the late ’90s when some folks freaked out when another beloved Chicana icon, singer Selena Quintanilla, was to be portrayed by Puerto Rican actress Jennifer Lopez (btw it was the 1997 movie Selena that inspired JLo to launch her singing career…so now we know who to blame: director Gregory Nava.) And on a similar note, many were angry that Italian American Madonna would be playing Argentina leader Eva Peron in Evita. We can thank god, I suppose for small mercies: Salma Hayek ended up portraying Mexican artist Frida Kahlo in Frida, though I encourage you to read Isabel Molina-Guzman’s powerful critique of that film in her excellent book, Dangerous Curves: Latina Bodies in the Media.

Anyway, in cases like the Huerta-Dawson match-up, the people get up in arms and cry out, “There wasn’t a single Mexican American actress you could have found to play Huerta?!” In fact, such commentary has already started: You can scroll down to some of the poorly-worded and ungrammatical replies to a HuffPost article about how nervous Dawson is to do justice to the role. Among the responses is this one:

…this is poor casting. Dawson looks nothing like Huerta. It’s a joke! UFW was not co-founded by a black woman. [emphasis added]

Comments like these expose a sensitive issue within many Latina/o communities: race. Latina/os are far from racial or ethnic homogeneity; we can lay claim to diverse racial backgrounds, which accounts for a wide-range of physical appearances even among people in the same family. However, some like to fancy the idea that Mexicans are primarily a “lighter” blend of native and Spanish peoples, while people from Carribbean countries are typically the darker ones, thanks to their African “blood.” But this is simply not true–even Mexicans have African ancestry, and if this is news to you, then I suggest you read Martha Menchaca’s Recovering History, Constructing Race asap. Nevertheless, those in our communities with lighter skin and fairer features are frequently praised as more beautiful than the darker ones among us. Even in mainstream entertainment, Latinas like Dawson and Zoe Saldaña are more often cast in African American roles or as the “exotic” beauties in sic-fi and action films, because studio execs can only envision “Latina” to look like JLo, Hayek, Penelope Cruz, etc. (And most of the time, they are supposed to sound like Sofia Vergara.)

To me, this outrage is misplaced. In the end, I don’t care who plays Huerta, as long as she does a good job at it. If she were a Chicana actor, sure, that would be great, but as my friend Michelle pointed out in our conversation on this topic earlier today, what’s more important is the fact that, by reaching mainstream audiences, a film like Chavez can raise awareness about his and Huerta’s accomplishments and therefore broaden people’s general understanding about Chicana/o history. Moreover, Michelle rightly noted that in the case of Selena, many Chicana/os didn’t really know who JLo was, and many Nuyoricans didn’t know anything about Selena, but in the end, we all went to see the movie and learned a little something. (I will admit that until seeing the film, I didn’t even know that Selena was born in the US and that English was her first language…which means I prolly should hand back my Chicana identity card. Also, one last excellent observation from Michelle: there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of backlash when Chicano Edward James Olmos was cast as Bolivian math teacher Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver. It seems that perhaps Chicano outrage only flows in one direction!)

Rather, the real issue that should be getting people worked up is the dire lack of representation of Latinas in the mainstream media as a whole. That is the true problem. It would be so refreshing to see a Latina in a role that isn’t specifically marked as “Latina.” We need roles that don’t require the performance of the usual ethnic stereotypes. One positive portrayal, for example, is Diana Maria Riva, who plays the role of Lieutenant Ana Ruiz on the TV show The Good Guys. In the show, she is a police lieutenant who just happens to be Latina. They don’t make a big issue out of her ethnicity: She doesn’t speak in a “Latin” accent, dress in a stereotypically ethnic way, or interject “Ay, caramba!” and the like into her conversations. She just goes about her job like a real person would.

That’s how I feel I live my life: I am Latina (specifically, of course, Mexican American). My ethnicity is an important part of my identity, but it’s not all of it. For example, I am a university professor, and despite my ethnicity, I don’t usually go to class dressed like this:

Which is not at all to say it is not my dream to do so…if only because I’d really love to see my students faces when I enter the room.

Anyway, there has been a lot of commentary lately about the lack of people of color in the HBO series Girls, which is set in Brooklyn, a borough that has a minority white population (for insightful examples of said commentary, check out Kendra James on Racialicious and this post by Dodai Stewart at Jezebel). It seems to me that it takes much more work to erase the people of color from mainstream media (particularly shows set in New York and Los Angeles) than it does to just show them as real people going about their daily business. So to all the studio execs and TV and film writers out there: Make it easier on yourselves! Take the characters you’re already writing about, and just cast a Latina in the role. Magic may happen–she may still seem like a real person…even though she’s Latina!

I’m just saying that when there are a broader range of Latina roles in the future–when we’ve been liberated from playing the grandmas, maids and sluts–then there won’t be so much pressure on films like Chavez to get the casting exactly right. Then we Chicana/os can find something better to complain about.