Gradual acceptance and tolerance of the other (Latino) into the American screen media! Language of liberation!
Manny’s family is shown as the third set of family. His mom in the show Modern family (link below) is glaringly a very hilarious lady with very conspicuous Latino accent. For her to star in a high profile show like this one sends a message of acceptance of the other (in my opinion).
Do you think this is a total acceptance of the Latino community into the American society where they where they were once ostracized?
http://www.hulu.com/watch/339016/modern-family-send-out-the-clowns
While it's nice to have a Latina women on TV, her character on the show is incredibly stereotypical. She uses broken English, is loud, and is constantly otherized. Helene Shugart, a rhetorician at University of Utah, talks a lot in her work about how whiteness often time uses exotic versions of the other (like the Gloria character) in order to reinvigorate whiteness itself. This can be a dangerous precedent to set as the process of exoticizing involves disciplining, primitivizing, and fetishizing of the other. So, no, Sofia Vergara's character on Modern Family is far from the "total acceptance of the Latino community". One TV character couldn't accomplish that and hers certainly cannot.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, Modern Family is still hilarious, if flawed.
Very interesting, but I have to say that her one role is not a complete acceptance of the race as a whole sadly. As the above Mike S. said from the few episode clips of the show that I have seen they protray her in the typical manner in which people have limited her racial background to seem or act like. Another Latino role is that of Gabrielle on Desperate Housewives which isn't so stereotypical and it does show her getting along very well with her other neighbors and not just being steroypied or piegion holed into one type of character. I do think that more movies with Latino characters being viewed in a different light is the key to full acceptance as well as everyday interactions amongst people.
ReplyDelete