Core Post #5 - Megan Henckel

     This week’s readings were primarily focused on the topic of crossover stardom as it relates to Jennifer Lopez, Carmen Miranda, and Selena Quintanilla. I think each article gives an interesting account of the methods through which each star’s image was constructed, received and dispersed across audiences. However, one common through line that struck me was the way in which the star images of these Latina stars functioned differently in Spanish speaking countries vs. in the United States while the physical body, particularly the butt, was the focal point for each oppositional interpretation of a star.
     Negron-Muntaner’s essay argues that the 1997 film Selena is a representation of Latino identity and culture that simultaneously creates a space for Latino representation while still relegating Latinos to the stereotypes and standards of white-dominant ideologies. The essay notes that Jennifer Lopez’s casting as Selena was a hot button topic early on in the production of the film because she was a puertorriqueña playing the part of a Mexican-American, Chicana, female. However, once they saw the trailers for the film, many naysayers changed their tune because they saw that Lopez was representing a larger Latino identity that was typically absent from the big screen.  Despite JLO’s difference in nationality to Selena Quintanilla, it was argued that she was right for the part because she “shared ethnic identities with Selena” and that the two shared  “a common experience of growing up Latina in this country [America].” Subsequently the article goes into detail about how the shared ethnicities of the two women became apparent in their physical appearances, particularly their backsides, which was a signifier of the Latino ethnicity that satisfied Latino audiences. As JLO notes, “Selena looked like me. She was dark and she was, well, curvy” (184). From the arguments made by Negron-Mutaner and my own interpretation, I would guess that Latinos who saw the film did in fact identify with Jennifer Lopez/Selena due in part to of her physical body that connected her to such a Latino ethnicity. Yet at the same time, the popular Hollywood mainstream understood the butt as a site of seemingly negative difference that placed Jennifer (and Selena) as “other” in relation to typical stick thin Hollywood actress of the time. Essentially, Jennifer’s butt lent authenticity to her role as the Chicana Selena forming a connection and identification with Latino audiences while simultaneously functioning as a way to other Lopez as her butt pushed against white standards of beauty.
     In “The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat,” Roberts details similar situations as mentioned above where the Latino reception and interpretation of Carmen Miranda starkly contrasted that of American Hollywood and thus created a complex system of stereotypes and misrepresentation of the star. In a telling quote, Roberts explains that Carmen Miranda’s crossover success was dependent on her adoption of different Latino identities that allowed her to appeal to wider audiences and fit into the American stereotypes of Latin Americans. She notes, ”the reviewers’ complaints address directly the homogenization of Latin American cultures, which results in the erasure of specific nationalities and cultures through the United States ‘melting pot’ fantasy” (pg 9). As in the instance of the Puerto Rican Lopez playing the Chicana Selena to produce a film about Latinos, Carmen Miranda was forced to blend national identities in order to solidify her stardom in the American mainstream. Similarly, Carmen Miranda's star image was interpreted differently in Latin America vs. the United States. Thanks to Hollywood’s twisted stereotypes of Latin Americans, Carmen Miranda was seen as an exotic figure with brightly colored clothes, a different physical body, “wild, savage, and primitive like an animal,” and a language that was not easily understood by Americans and often satirized for its “monee” or “braazeel” patterns (10). Roberts notes that “in the United States. . . many articles reported an unmitigated success for Miranda : the ‘South American Bombshell.’” In America Carmen Miranda was the exotic other from south of the border, but never more than just a caricature of what was understood as Latin identity and culture. In Latin America, however, Miranda’s stereotyped portrayals of culture that were present in her films were not embraced by the Latino community. Many received Miranda’s movies negatively even “booing and whistling” during her performance in Brazil and thought that she had become too “Americanized” losing her Brazilian roots in the process by appealing to the stereotypes of Hollywood. The U.S. even misinterpreted audience response to Miranda’s star image so much that they called a performance in Brazil “one of the city’s greatest ovations” which failed to acknowledge the whistling and booing as mentioned above (13).
     I feel as though the last article by Beltran really emphasizes the through line in comparison to the previous two articles. It details the dichotomy between Jennifer Lopez’s butt as being embraced by the star as a signifier of Latina identity but also as a contrasting point that was fetishized and obsessed about by mainstream Hollywood. As the article notes, Jennifer was in favor of the focus on her butt because she felt as though there was finally a Latina actress who adequately represented the Latina body type. Lopez herself notes that “so many girls here are so thin—in fact nobody else in Hollywood really has my type of body. . . Call me the ‘Guitar Girl’” (with a body shaped like a guitar) (75). Due to her physical attributes Lopez then appeared in English language press as the sexy, exotic, Latina who was confident in her body. The U.S. press focused on her butt over her performances and, in my opinion, made it a way in which they could other the star despite her own embrace of her butt. Contrastingly, Latin American audiences never fetishized and obsessed over the butt in the same way the U.S. press did. Rather the Latin reception of Lopez was that she was pure, a real Latina with a confidence and body to match. This reception of Lopez was overall positive among Latinos.. In both instances, Lopez’ butt is a signifier of Latin identity but in one case it is fetishized and placed as other despite her success; and in the other it is positive without the same negative associations of sexuality, excess, etc.
     In these instances, physical associations of Latina identity coupled with the crossover ability of Jennifer Lopez, Selena Quintanilla, and Carmen Miranda demonstrates the way in which star images function differently in Spanish vs. English speaking countries. I think such an argument lends interesting evidence to a larger debate about ethnic representation within Hollywood historically and today.