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Jewish World Review Nov. 2, 2005 / 30 Tishrei, 5766 Hollywood's vision of Hispanics By Ruben Navarrette Jr.
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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Mitch Albom | |||||||||||
