Telenovela Meets American TV Adapted from the original venezuelan telenovela “Juana La Virgen,” producers Jennie Urman, Ben Silverman, Gary Pearl, Jorge Granier and Brad Siberling portray Golden Globe award winning actress, Gina Rodriguez as Jane Gloriana Villanueva an aspiring writer, grilled-cheese lover and a devout Catholic who lives in a small house in Miami with her mother Xiomara (played by Andrea Navedo) and her purity obsessed Abuela, Alba (Ivionne Coll.) The TV comedy-series begins in a scene, in which a young age Jane is asked to clench a fresh white rose by her Abuela. The rose symbolized her virginity and when she unsuccessfully tried to put the flower back together she made an oath that she must remain a virgin until marriage. …show more content…
Not only does Gina portray an adorable and brave latina, but the viewers get to see how she evolves as a character. Gina Rodriguez also embodies an intelligent and hardworking Latina that many shows such as “Modern Family” fail to present. Throughout the series, I’ve become so attached the characters because of how well the actors work together. The connection is real and visible, so much so that when Jane seeks comfort from her mother and Abuela I feel as If it’s Sunday afternoon and my mother is cooking warm tamales and hot coffee …show more content…
Despite the obstacles that the protagonist faces, the show captures the true essence of comedy by introducing Xiomara, aspiring pop-singer who flaunts her stilettos and booty shorts. However beneath all the glitter and sparkles, Xiomara is a flawed, caring mother who only wishes to guide and protect a Jane. The CW show consists of Chapters, narrated by Latin Lover Anthony Mendez who introduces the audience and informs them of what they might have missed. This spicy addition to the TV series adds an ounce of Latin flavor as well as having famous pop-singer Paulina Rubio guest star in an episode. The CW show depicts the life of Jane, a soon to be mother that hilariously tackles school, work and her love triangle. With the help of Jaime Camil who portrays an egotistical Rogelio De La Vega, a telenovela icon the viewers get to laugh as he and Xiomara rekindle their romance but let their egos get in the
Unplanned pregnancies are very common in the show. The show tackled the topic of abortion by revealing that Jane's mother, Xiomara, had a medication abortion after learning that she had gotten pregnant from a one-night-stand. The show also touched on abortion earlier when Jane is mistakenly artificially fertilized in the pilot episode, and the topic comes up as an option when Jane is figuring out what to do about her pregnancy. But for Xiomara’s case, it was taken in a different situation. Although she had the abortion off-screen, so the episode began when she already had the abortion, it marked the first time a Latina character has had an abortion on television.
On one hand we can see that she pushes back and challenges her tradition on the other hand it is difficult to not see emotion expressed by herself when she is alone. One scene that does do this is when she is buying condoms for the first time but does not know what to purchase. This small but significant scene revels that although she is strong and ready she also needs guidance through her path of adulthood. She is able to ask a pharmacist for advice but not her own mother. This lack of connection to be open up to mothers is emphasized enough to create awareness that young Mexican American women need someone to talk to and it should preferably be their
Both Dumas and Cordero are growing up in a culture that is different from their parents’; this difference is one reason why both girls have a feeling of ‘otherness.’ Even though both girls feel a struggle between their heritage and the American culture they live in, they deal with this struggle in dissimilar ways. Although Cordero does love her family, she feels as though she is trapped by her Mexican heritage. She is surrounded by Mexican-American females who are oppressed, unsatisfied, and often longing for a different life. We get many stories of her grandmother, cousins, and neighbors who are stuck in a place of discontent with no way out; and she does not be part of an endless loop of females who are under the control of men.
Junot Diaz’s novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is focused on the hyper-masculine culture of the Dominican, and many argue that his portrayal of the slew of women in the novel is misogynistic because they are often silenced by the plot and kept out of the narration (Matsui). However, Diaz crafts strong women, and it is society that views them as objects. The novel recognizes the masculine lens of the culture while still examining the lives of resilient women. In this way, the novel showcases a feminist stance and critiques the misogynist culture it is set in by showcasing the strength and depth of these women that help to shape the narrative while acknowledging that it is the limits society places on them because of their sexuality
Last Updated: 2012. Date Accessed: 1 Jan. 2012. http://partyspot.com/articles/article.aspx?articleid=A60503122621> Univision. The. “Latina Moms and the Quinceaera Traditions.”
“Like Water for Chocolate” by Laura Esquivel, is a beautiful romantic tale of an impossible passionate love during the revolution in Mexico. The romance is followed by the sweet aroma of kitchen secrets and cooking, with a lot of imagination and creativity. The story is that of Tita De La Garza, the youngest of all daughters in Mama Elena’s house. According to the family tradition she is to watch after her mother till the day she does, and therefore cannot marry any men. Tita finds her comfort in cooking, and soon the kitchen becomes her world, affecting every emotion she experiences to the people who taste her food. Esquivel tells Titas story as she grows to be a mature, blooming women who eventually rebels against her mother, finds her true identity and reunites with her long lost love Pedro. The book became a huge success and was made to a movie directed by Alfonso Arau. Although they both share many similarities, I also found many distinct differences. The movie lost an integral part of the book, the sensual aspect of the cooking and love.
Grande introduces to the audience various characters that cross Juana 's path to either alter or assist her on her journey to find her father. Through those individuals, Grande offers a strong comparison of female characters who follow the norms, versus those that challenge gender roles that
...eals to get her audience to feel how she wants them to feel or think how she wants them to think. She presents her stance on the issue and then provides a good solid basis by giving examples from her past as well as explaining how the Puerto Rican culture is different in certain ways from the American way of life. Judith Ortiz Cofer is a strong advocate for spreading the truth about these Latina myths, as well as others, to the uninformed people that are all around us. If there is one thing to learn from this story it is tolerance and understanding of the unique cultures that make up this great county that we live in.
Gender, ethnicity, and sexuality are core components that create a solid identity. In the western world Jolene is known as a bisexual Latina female. She is bisexual because she is sexually attracted to men and women, she is a Latina because she is a mixed company of Puerto Rican and German American, and she is a female because she has the physical attributes of a woman. Although gender, ethnicity, and sexuality are all relating factors, they are also separate units of identity. Gender refers to physical attributes and traits that make one appear to be male or female. Sexuality refers to how one feels about their body, one’s sexual orientation, and one’s sexual attraction for others. Ethnicity refers to a group of people who share the same cultural background and heritage. Lopez uses these three different factors of identity and crafts them together simultaneously to suggest the damage of stereotypes. Throughout the novel, Lopez’s Flaming Iguanas highlights the conformity of sex and gender stereotypes, and addresses the socially constructed stereotypes to challenge the patriarchy and expose the damage it does to one’s search for selfhood. Jolene exemplifies how they damage one’s sense of self as she ventures
Kumaraswami (2007) identifies that the females presented are stereotypical in their nature; this is to say that they either exist in the domestic atmosphere or that they have lost their purity due to being forced into the revolution. Although Camila and Pintada are complete opposites, the similarity lays in the fact that they both fit different parts of society at that time: “En combinación, forman una síntesis de dos extremos irreconciliables que se le presentan a la mujer mexicana y entre los cuales tiene que escoger” (Clark, 1980). In this sense, the mexican women were in two different situations, those who wished to remain traditionalistic and those who sought self-advancement through the likes of previously considered male characteristics. One can see the traditional character through Camila, Azuela has ensured that initially Camila would fit the traditional role of the female, caring, weak, and doting to the men’s needs. Thus Camila seems to be a flat stereotypical character that is expected to appear in novels of this era if women were to appear at all. Nevertheless, the character of Camila becomes more dynamic as Los de Abajo develops, thus she becomes more of an indication as to how women involved in the revolution did not remain ‘sana y buena’. On the contrary, the almost paradoxical characteristics of Pintada seem to confuse Azuela. Pintada is an emasculated character but only in the sense of
The ways in which the female and male protagonists are portrayed within a certain telenovela are representative of the gender roles present in that society. In many telenovelas, the traditional female protagonists are naive, innocent, and pure in many ways. While the male protagonists, on the other hand, are very machismo and overflowing with testosterone. In Mexico, the country in which this telenovela was made, women are expected to be amas de la casa (homemakers), caring for the home and the children while men work outside of the home (“Women” 2). There is also a hierarchal power structure in which a woman is often relegated to the demands and desires of her husband (Hirsch 2003). Despite these traditional roles, La Patrona has characters
Latin American society has placed a very high value on women being virgins when they marry. This value is one of the primary themes in Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Marquez. Virginity is one of the main motifs when thinking about feminism in the novel. A feminist lens would certainly ponder the ideals of this certain Latin American society and think of virginity as a great way to show the novels true nature. However, this view is only seen on the surface, as one delves into the deeper meaning of this book it almost sees the authors view of this subject as childish. Throughout Chronicle of a Death Foretold, a mockery is made out of the idea that celibacy is for those who are not yet married. The plot of Chronicle of a Death Foretold is based on the understanding that maintaining a woman’s virginity is important enough to kill for, and conversely, that anyone violating this social conduct was risking his or her own death. Virginity in the novel is synonymously viewed with honor. This aspect is what Gabriel Marquez challenges with the use of irony in the novel. Throughout Chr...
There is a large cast of characters including the priest Sarastro (a very serious, proselytizing basso), the Queen of the Night (a mean, angry, scheming coloratura), and her daughter, the beautiful and courageous Pamina. There is the handsome hero, Tamino, on the quintessential road trip, and his cohort in misadventure, the bird seller, Papageno. Papageno ultimately finds his Papagena (who starts out disguised as a crone), Tamino ultimately wins Pamina, Sarastro presumably wins a passle of converts, and everyone goes home humming the catchy Mozart melodies. It is all presented in a plot complicated by a dragon, a threesome of warbling ladies in service to the Queen of the Night, another threesome of boy-angels, even a bully - Monostatos, guard for the Queen. It is lightened by such elements as locked lips, charmed animals, and, of course, a magic flute.
The idea that a woman’s job is to be a wife and mother is old-fashioned, but not completely out of style. Though these roles require a great deal of talent, resilience, patience, love, and strength, to name a few, they are often underestimated or depicted as simple. Especially in modern times, many women in the United States who stay home to raise a family are viewed as anti-feminists, whereas women in Latin America are not criticized for similar actions. In recent decades, more Latin American women have started to break the mold, daring to be both sexy, and successful in the workforce, while remaining pillars of domestic life.
“No one would have thought, nor did anyone say, that Angela Vicario wasn’t a virgin. She hadn’t known any previous fiancé and she’d grown up along with her sisters under the rigor of a mother of iron. Even when it was less than two months before she would be married, Pura Vicario wouldn’t let her go out alone with Bayardo San Roman to see the house where they were going to live, but she and the blind father accompanied her to watch over her honor.”