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February 13, 2012
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February 7, 2012
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Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
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Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
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Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
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Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
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Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
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January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
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January 13, 2012
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John Fauber : Statins found to raise diabetes risk in postmenopausal women
Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
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January 11, 2012
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Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
Karen Kaplan: Study: Nicotine replacement products ineffective when used in real-life situations
January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
Nov. 2, 2005
/ 30 Tishrei, 5766
Hollywood's vision of Hispanics
By
Ruben Navarrette Jr.
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Many native-born Americans worry that their jobs are headed to India or China, that globalization is destroying the working class, that the country's best days are behind it, and that the future is filled with doom. Even though theirs is the most powerful nation in the world, they see themselves as powerless to direct the course of their own lives.
How depressing.
For a reminder of just how much hope and opportunity there still is in this country, sometimes you need to strike up a conversation with an immigrant.
Or you could just spend a few minutes with Fernando Espuelas, the Uruguayan-born wunderkind who sees pathways where others see boundaries. In the 1990s, Espuelas made and lost a fortune in the dot-coms when he launched StarMedia, an Internet portal that provided visitors with content about Latin America.
Espuelas bounced back and raised millions of investment dollars to launch Voy Group, a New York-based media company targeting English-speaking Hispanics. It includes something that is among the first of its kind a bilingual blog.
The company also includes a division dedicated to creating television and film projects, so Espuelas recently moved to Hollywood. It has been a culture shock not just for the media entrepreneur but also, I imagine, for Hollywood.
For one thing, Espuelas doesn't understand why so many writers, producers and directors in the industry continue to cast Latino characters by falling back on stereotypes gardeners and gang members, maids and nannies.
Espuelas wants to produce substantive and uplifting programming filled with inspirational characters. And he thinks the entertainment industry is ready for that.
Silly boy. Would this be the same industry that gave us the hit show, "Desperate Housewives," which recently kicked off its second season with its two main Hispanic characters Carlos and Gabrielle Solis spending less time on Wisteria Lane than in Cell Block C? Last season, much was made of the Solises supposedly being the wealthiest couple in the neighborhood. This season, Carlos is in prison for assault, and Gabrielle is busy angling for the occasional conjugal visit.
Note to the show's creator, Marc Cherry: We in the Hispanic community really do appreciate that you thought to include a Hispanic couple in the series to begin with. And many of us were downright amazed when you managed not to fall back on Hispanics when the time came to cast gardeners, maids or nannies. Way to go! Muy bueno! But then you went and put Carlos Solis in an orange jumpsuit.
This is happening just as ABC, which carries the show, announced it would become the first English-language television network to provide its prime-time programming in Spanish by using dubbing and subtitles. If the network really wants to reach Hispanic viewers, maybe what it needs isn't more translations, but better content.
Espuelas is surprise more optimistic.
"What I think has happened is that the country has begun to interpret Latin themes in positive ways," Espuelas observes.
He has had some early success with Voy Pictures, the film division of his media venture, which recently produced and sold a documentary to HBO/Cinemax Documentary Films. Now the company is working on a feature film.
Espuelas admits that prejudice and racism still exist in Hollywood. The limited perspectives of those in the Hollywood establishment are born of the fact that most of the Hispanics they come in contact with on a daily basis are tending to their kids, trimming their hedges or cooking their meals. Espuelas has seen it up close. Not long after he came West, he and one of his associates were meeting with an executive at a major studio when the executive noted that Hispanics were hardworking and offered his gardener as an example.
I would have made a scene. Not Espuelas, who tossed the executive a lifeline by saying that, as a matter of fact, when he was growing up as a blond, light-skinned kid in Connecticut he too worked as a gardener. But, he said, he also went to college, and other opportunities opened up. And that's part of the Hispanic narrative, the same story he wants to share with the rest of the country through his television and film projects.
If he succeeds and I wouldn't bet against him Hollywood will never be the same.
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