Fueling Latin stereotypes and busting them

Given how expertly I can sob like a true telenovela star -- ask my family, they'll tell you. I truly transform! -- I have missed my chance at super stardom and a boob job by not auditioning for Viva Hollywood!, the new VH1 "reality" series. It stars bobitas, malitas y Rico suaves cat-fighting and sheet jerking their way to estardumb.

It launched last night, but I just watched it online while I put together an order. It was delicious to see Maria Conchita Alonso at 9 a.m. on this Monday. She's glorious and likely will continue to be so if she stops injecting stuff into her face. Carlos Ponce. Meow! Walter Mercado. All I can say is Ay, Dios Mio, he's still alive?

Despite the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, I have to say I felt right at home watching these people. Telenovelas have semi-melted the brains of every woman in my family (Hi, Mami! Hi, Tia!) and they provided the background noise to much of my youth. So I guess they induce a little nostalgia. But, nostalgia like how an addict might remember old binges.

Now, before I lost an hour or so to VH1, I heard a story on NPR this very morning on how the hugely famous Latina Dora the Explorer was created, mostly sans stereotype.




Excerpts:

And when it came to sketching the way Dora looked, the creative team made sure she wasn't stereotypically Latina.

"Short hair," (Producer Chris) Gifford says. "Not long, flowing hair. A little more tomboyish; a girl who was more interested in adventure and exploring than someone who thought a lot about what she looked like."

When Dora was presented to Nickelodeon's consumer-products group, Gifford says, the marketers were skeptical at first.
"There was a big concern about [the character] not being a good consumer-product property," he says.

And another about Tico, whom I have dissed in this blog:

"Tico was always sleepy," says (Brown) Johnson (of Nickelodeon). "Asleep under a tree. Our cultural consultant said, 'Not such a good idea.' A Latino character, who only speaks Spanish, the littlest character, always asleep. Just not a good idea."

The goal, according to Johnson:

“One of our goals with Dora was to position the whole idea of being multicultural as being super special.”

Gifford tells NPR that Dora is "courageous," "kind'' and "She's got unbelievable interpersonal skills."

If the entertainment industry wants to continue to attract, sell to, and market to Latinos, it really has to remember that we're not all Dora with the short hair and we're not all Charo with the coochi coochi. Most of us are kinda somewhere in the middle. More like Penelope Cruz on a bad hair day or J.Lo with baby weight.

For now, I just vote that Dora make a guest appearance on Viva Hollywood to teach nice nice.

And, it'll totally freak out guest star Cheech Marin.