A Look into
CrossAcculturation
Presented to Dieste by Analytical Anarchy Cailun Booker, Samantha Chavez Kelly Coonan, Kirby Dunavin, & Sara McGee
Introduction
Despite the United States frequently being referred to as a cultural “melting pot”, the process of acculturation has drastically changed, making a Bowl of Soup a more realistic analogy. Rather than simply melting together into an indistinguishable pile, today cultures shape the American way of life as much as America influences them. People are finding it more important to maintain their ethnic and cultural characteristics while living in the U.S., a trend often referred to as retro-acculturation. This is not to say people are casting aside American values and traditions, but only appreciating their heritage to the fullest. This trend is best seen in many young Hispanic millennials who are reverting to family traditions and changing perspectives. This rediscovering of their family’s heritage can be seen in many forms, such as showing an “appreciation for cooking like grandma does, listening to a variation of music genres in Spanish, or even [honing] their fluency in Spanish” (Godinez). There are many reasons for this increased value in heritage with technology and a high importance placed on diversity being among them. Clearly, the advances in technology have improved mass communication worldwide, making it easier for families to stay in touch with people and policies in their homeland. Secondly, this newly found appreciation for diversity has allowed immigrants to take pride in their country of origin, “whereas 40-50 years ago…[they] made a greater effort to assimilate as fast as possible into their new host environment” (Lokpez). These cultural changes significantly alter marketing trends and present a new way of thinking that cannot be ignored in the advertising world, especially given the impact of Latino buying power.
(Gulbransen). Another important factor in this new acculturation philosophy is the fact that the number of U.S.-born Hispanics is surpassing the immigrant population for the first time (Mueller). This means the Latino buying power is in the hands of a younger, wealthier, and more acculturated population. One way to assess this trend from a marketing perspective is by looking at the
changes in media and how they are perceived. The remainder of this paper will outline how TV and music have become drastically influenced by the Latino population and what this means for U.S. marketers in every product category.
Music The eclectic nature of Hispanic music makes it an interesting media to research. Music is a distinctive part of Hispanic culture; in turn Hispanic music has long had a presence in the general market. Many of the styles have influenced today’s popular music in the US both through Hispanic artists and other artists picking up on Hispanic influences. By studying the way in which mainstream music has influenced Latin Music – and vice versa, we can look into a microcosm of Hispanic cross-acculturation and apply our findings to reach further than the realm of music.
History of Hispanic Influence on Mainstream Music
Latin sounds have long been a part of American mainstream music. From the early 1900’s Jazz music was heavily influenced by Latin elements. Soon after, Latin music and dance styles, such as the Argentinian Tango and the Brazilian Samba began to gain popularity in the United States. Carmen Miranda: A Case Study
Carmen Miranda was a native of Portugal who moved to Brazil as an infant. After landing a recording contract in Brazil, her popularity exploded in Latin America and spread to America where she soon moved her career in the 1940’s. Her outlandish costumes and personality entertained mainstream America and helped popularize the Samba. For most Americans, Carmen Miranda was the only representation of Latin America they saw and she soon became the face of Latin America to the US. To this day she is the only Latin American to have had her hands and feet immortalized outside Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles. In American movies, her image was a caricature of the Latin woman, jealous, hot-blooded, with a strong accent. The stereotype was encouraged by American producers, despite Carmen’s fluency in English. Upon her return to Brazil, she was accused of strengthening Brazilian stereotypes by exaggerating her mannerisms, and “becoming too American.” While Hispanic music’s image has come a long way from the cartoonish stereotypes forced upon Miranda, it is still often times pigeonholed, as we will outline below.
Hispanic Music in the General Market Today
In recent history, Latin influence in mainstream America has waxed and waned with music critics announcing the Latino music’s move into U.S. mainstream shortly after others declared the “Latin bubble burst”. However, from the 90’s Latin music has sporadically enjoyed the spotlight. With Selena, Enrique Iglesias, Ricky Martin, J-Lo, Shakira, Mark Anthony, Los Lonley Boys, Santana, and Pitbull, Hispanic musicians have gained mainstream attention through their Latin sounds. Despite the recognition that comes with mainstream popularity, these successes have lead to the problem of Hispanic music being put into a single category by the general
public. When asked what was brought to mind when thinking of Latin music, a member of our focus group said “I can really only think of dance/pop music, like Shakira.” (This quote also came with an attempt at belly dancing…) Though the Hispanic music landscape is far broader than the dance niche, this trend of mixing Latino music with Americanized dance songs is becoming very popular among millenials. It allows them to enjoy the modern music of today while still hinting at their heritage and culture.
Popular Music Among Hispanics
Among Hispanics, popular music now tends to mirror the mainstream pop trends: “…four of the top five Hot Latin Songs were dance tracks with some mix of urban, tropical and pop, edging out the dominant regional Mexican music. With a collage of elements that mirrors the year's general dance pop music trend while incorporating distinctly Latin sounds and Spanish lyrics, it's music that's courting the mainstream while still resonating with young Latinos.” -Billboard Magazine These Millennials are not first-generation Hispanics. They’re American first and foremost, but they want to retain their culture and language, while still remaining hip in the eyes of the mainstream. Stephanie Bergara, Assistant Festival Producer for Pachanga Fest, noted two additional trends in popular Hispanic music: a rise of female musicians, especially rappers; and “indie guys”. While artists such as Control Machete helped popularize Latin Hip-Hop, they have always been male centric. Now females such as Ana Tijoux, a Chilean rapper, and Las Santas Cecilia, a female fronted band from Los Angeles are gaining popularity. Another trend she noticed are more male Hispanic musicians embodying the indie style of dress and music. She pointed to Gustavo Galindo, a Mexican singer-songwriter currently based in Los Angeles often called the Mexican John Mayer. “They’re wearing the skinny jeans, have shaggy hair, and half sleeves, which was never cool before, because men in Hispanic culture are typically expected to be all macho with chains and all that”.
Pachanga Fest: Case Study
We decided to look further into Pachanga Fest, a Latin-themed music, cultural arts and food festival located in Austin to learn more about the Hispanic music culture and how it speaks to Hispanics. The fifth annual festival will be held May 11-12 in the Fiesta Gardens. Second headliner Los Lonely Boys, who have had mainstream success, will sound familiar to the mainstream audience, while others such as headliner Calle 13 may be unheard of. Bergara said that there are really no confines for the festival; there’s everything from hip-hop, to indie, to world music, to Tejano to mariachi. “It’s really all about representing the brown to create a sense of community and to let people know what Latin American culture is all about”.
Stephanie also noted the importance of family in Hispanic culture, and how that has translated to this event. There has always been a completely free and interactive children’s’ area where kids can make crafts, dance, and have fun. She explained that with a lot of the other events she works, such as Pitchfork festival, her family will ask her if they can help or bring their kids, but unfortunately the environment isn’t family friendly. That’s why they really strive to make sure Pachanga is something that everyone can enjoy, and won’t exclude those with children. This notion of family first was often brought up in the focus group, with many participants noting its importance in Hispanic culture. As far as promoting the festival, Pachanga primarily targets Hispanics, but they also want the festival to appeal to everyone. That was one of the big reasons they worked so hard this year to book Alejandro Escoveda, a Texan singer-songwriter legend who typically sings in English. Girl in a Coma, a San Antonio indie rock band also primarily produces music in English. “They’re out there making really awesome, innovative music,” said Stephanie, “and we really wanted to have them here.” The band has opened for Morrisey, Cindy Lauper, Social Distortion, Tegan and Sara, and other big name indie bands. “It’s really great to have somebody who opened for like Cindy Lauper and be able to say, hey they look like me!” This mixture and fusion of trends and tastes offers a glimpse into the future of the Hispanic presence in the U.S.;
Television
Hispanics are the fastest growing segment in America and make up 16.3% of the US population according to the 2011 census. Their magnitude is especially clear when analyzing the ratio of Hispanic children to Hispanic adults compared to the rest of the population. Hispanics aged 18 and above make up 14.2% of US adults, while Hispanic children make up 23.1% of US children. In Texas, this number is even greater. Of the population growth from 2000-2010, 65% of the total population growth and 95% of the under 18 population growth has been Hispanic. The fact that children represent a larger proportion of Hispanics than adults presents a look into the future of how American society is changing, one of the many reasons we’ve chosen to target Millenials in our recommendations. The growing Hispanic population provides television networks and advertisers a huge potential to grow their audience and increase their capital. Networks have the opportunity to increase their audience by catering to the Hispanic market. An increase in audience size will bring more advertisers to the networks. Not only are they growing in number, but also in purchasing power. Hispanics now have a purchasing power of $1.2 trillion, a substantial increase from $800 billion in 2007. We believe that by analyzing television, a space in which advertising is presented we can gain a better idea of how to help advertisers better target Hispanics. By understanding how Hispanics are presented in the context of television, advertisers have the potential to improve the television landscape for their Hispanic audience, thus helping to increase their affinity toward the brand.
Statistics on Hispanic TV Viewing
Hispanics have increasingly become a larger segment of the US TV viewing population. In the 2009-2010 TV season, 12.9 million of US TV households were Hispanic. This is a huge increase from 8.7 million in 1991 and even the 12.1 million in 2008. According to the 2011 Maximo Report, acculturated Hispanics are more likely to subscribe to cable or Satellite TV and use the Internet. Hispanic Millennials are becoming more acculturated than any previous generation. While 25% of Hispanics consume media in only Spanish, most of this number consists of the older Hispanic generations. This means that with an increasing frequency, the best way to reach Hispanic audiences, especially Millenials, will be through methods that also reach the general market.
Since Hispanic Millennials are more likely to watch “mainstream” media, they want to see portrayals of people that resemble them in terms of ethnicity and lifestyle. This is clear when looking into their network viewership habits. Station
HH Rating
Impr (000)
Fox
3.3
442
ABC
3.2
427
CBS
2.1
282
NBC
1.9
250
Statistics on Hispanic landscape of TV now
In the 2010-2011 TV season, there were a total of 48 Hispanic actors that portrayed regular characters on the 4 networks prime time shows. This means there are 6.4% Hispanic minority performers on prime time TV, in comparison to the 10.6% of the US population. Although the rate of Hispanic actors is growing, there is still a discrepancy of the US population and the prime time TV population. In focus group conducted on the UT campus, most of the participants thought the inclusion of Hispanics on primetime TV was natural and should occur more often. However, when asked to list Hispanic actors or characters they could remember on primetime TV, even with a significant amount of “cheating”, participants could only list an average of 4.1
characters. Furthermore, most listed the exact same three characters: George Lopez, Sofia Vergara, and Eva Longoria. It is also important to note that the Hispanic participants in the focus group could remember on average 2.7 times more characters than the other participants. This implies that Hispanic representation is more noticeable to Hispanics, because it is on their minds and relevant to their everyday lives. The National Latino Media Council hopes to correct this discrepancy by issuing a Network TV Diversity Report Card. The council reviews documents that each network sends and determines the amount of Hispanic regular actors, recurring actors, reality TV actors, producers, directors, and writers. Each network is given a report suggesting ways to improve upon their scores and a letter grade on where they stand now. Overall, their 2011 report is positive, but suggests different areas of improvement. The amount of Spanish used on TV demonstrates how networks are trying to appeal to the largest minority group. It also shows that the General Market is becoming more comfortable with Spanish as it’s seeping into network TV. They applaud shows that use Spanish or Spanish actors to improve the authenticity of the show. A notable example is CSI: Miami who consistently hires actors to play guest characters in each weeks mystery. (Deleted last sentence here) ABC ABC has consistently ranked among the top networks in terms of portraying Hispanics. They have the largest number of regular actors on their prime time schedule. They have regularly turned Latino actors into stars of hit shows. One notable example is Eva Longoria’s character Gabrielle Solis on Desperate Housewives. They have also improved the number of recurring scripted actors since last season. The main area of increase for ABC was the number of Hispanics on reality shows. Dancing With The Stars has been known to portray Hispanic dancers and even have a Latin Night where each contestant dances a Hispanic style dance. Because they have so many Hispanic characters, they are also known for hiring Hispanic writers, which helps with the authenticity of the shows. CBS CBS was ranked second for the 2011 report card. While CBS needs work on bringing more Hispanics in regular scripted roles, they have greatly improved on the number in reality shows and recurring characters. The NLMC had high praise towards The Good Wife who featured America Ferrera in several episodes towards the end of the 2011 season. Given this, it is ironic that they fall last in terms of the number of Hispanic producers and writers. However, they have the best participation of Hispanic directors. NBC NBC is especially praised for introducing supporting roles that defy predictable stereotypes. The number of recurring and regular actors is low, but rising. They have also improved the number of producers, but not the number of writers. While NBC is low in some categories, they appear to be making an effort to integrate more Hispanics into their programming and should improve in the next season.
Fox Fox was the ranked last in the 2011 report card. Fox has shown a consistent decline in the amount of Hispanics on primetime as well as directors, producers, and writers. They need a lot of work to match the other networks numbers in terms of Hispanics scripted actors in both regular and recurring roles. While Fox used to be the leader in casting and promoting Hispanics on reality shows, they now have the fewest Hispanics in unscripted shows. Both writers and directors have decreased. The only bright spot for Fox is that they seem to be thriving in terms of hiring Hispanic directors. It is interesting to note that Fox currently has the highest rankings for Hispanic viewers. Although only by a small margin, this high Hispanic viewership shows just how common acculturation is becoming among the Hispanic population.
Textual Analysis Desperate Housewives
Over the years, Latinos have had a growing presence on TV shows, even being cast as the main character in many recent roles. One of the best examples of this increase in popularity is Eva Longoria on Desperate Housewives. The main strength she displays on the show is also her greatest weakness as a Latina character. Though she shows diversity compared to the frequently seen tanned-skin, heavily accented Latino characters on TV, she is also hypersexual and speaks little to no Spanish throughout the show’s eight seasons. Longoria’s character, Gabrielle Solis, first seems to escape the typical Latina seen on Primetime TV. She represents a first-generation American who broke away from her poor background and made it as a model in NYC. But rather than making her a successful and acculturated character, the show portrays her as a Latina struggling to be a modern-day American in both her social and family life. In the pilot episode, Gabrielle is instantly seen as a cultural outsider for bringing “spicy paella” to a neighborhood wake and dressing in tight-fitting scandalous outfits (Merskin). In later seasons, it is clear the writers attempt to highlight Gabrielle’s Mexican heritage, as in the “You Gotta Get a Gimmick” episode. In this, Gabrielle’s oldest daughter is accepted into a private school, where no other Mexican students attend. This then sheds light on the fact that Gabrielle has yet to tell her children they are of Mexican descent and educate them on their background. The show ends with Carlos, Gabrielle’s husband, convincing her that heritage is something to be proud of, not ashamed, relating to viewers struggling with acculturation (ABC). Though Gabrielle still possesses many stereotypical traits, this suffering senorita persona is very different from past Latina characters seen on TV, such as Rosario Salazar. Rosario played the crude, yet still subservient maid from El Salvador on popular comedy Will and Grace. Some critics argue Primetime TV simply moved from one Latina stereotype to another with these two shows, but this change is a noticeable move in the direction of modern-day Latinas attempting to merge their Latino and American lifestyles together. Modern Family
Another equally sexy and critiqued Latina character on TV today is Sofia Vergara on Modern Family. The show is not shy about bringing diversity to the forefront, with an interracial
marriage, a homosexual couple, and an adopted Asian girl being only a few of the main characters. Similar to Longoria, Vergara plays an overtly sexual Latina mom who is best known for her over-the-top personality and flamboyant nature. She often pronounces English words wrong and frequently misunderstands what the other characters are saying; a tactic often used by Desi in the 1950s hit I Love Lucy. Though 29% of Hispanic respondents on a Huffington Post poll think Vergara “plays up the stereotype too much,” her character, Gloria, also makes great improvements for Latinas on TV. Not only is she married to an older Caucasian man, but Gloria is Colombian and proud of it. Before Modern Family, many Latina characters’ heritage was never discussed, allowing the viewer to assume a likeness across all Hispanic roles. In Modern Family, Gloria breaks this habit by pointing out clear distinctions between Colombians and other Hispanic regions. This is best exemplified on the episode “Like We’re Peruvians!” where she is angered by her husband racially profiling her as a Colombian. Ironically, she takes this opportunity to insult Peruvians as thieves and criminals (ABC). This ethnic pride clearly demonstrates the growing national trend of Latinas in America, turning back towards their heritage to define their lifestyle. Many more episodes on Modern Family highlight Gloria’s background and the importance she puts on instilling it onto her son, Manny. Many of the show’s premises can be tied back to shows like All in the Family, which confronted controversial issues of its time. All in the Family even portrays the one “cultural outsider,” the Polish son-in-law, whose attempts to integrate into the Caucasian family are often met with humor. By comparing Modern Family to shows in the past, such as All in the Family, it is clear that some progress has been made in the presence of minority characters on TV. However, many of these roles, though prominent in the plot line, still position these characters as the butt of jokes. Ugly Betty
One of the most progressive TV shows featuring a Hispanic lead was Ugly Betty, which was cancelled after only four seasons. America Ferrera starred on the show as Betty, a Latina girl attempting to get a job in New York. Besides the obvious delineation away from ultra feminine sexpot roles, the show does an excellent job of straying away from many commonly used stereotypes. Betty is a strong, independent Latina character who speaks both English and Spanish, is single for a significant portion of the show, and works at a high-profile publication in New York City. “The representation of Betty as ugly subverts Hollywood’s long history of stereotyping Latina women as prostitutes, cantineras, or bar girls, or women of questionable virtue” (Cortés). All of these characteristics help to demonstrate a “new” type of Latina role for Hispanics to relate to on television. Ugly Betty not only emphasizes how diverse Latinos are, but actually shows aspects of their culture and heritage. A large portion of the show focuses on Betty attempting to integrate into American culture while still maintaining her Mexican background. This speaks to the Ugly Betty audience, many of whom are first-generation American Latinos who are struggling themselves to fit in. Though the show centers on a strong Latina lead, there are still plenty of stereotypes and moments of Hispanic degradation. Betty’s sister, Hilda, plays the sassy sexpot female, Justin’s father plays
the machismo Latin lover, and Betty’s father plays the illegal immigrant. Additionally, the show missed the larger opportunity “to counter the higher underrepresentation of other Latino populations in film and television and to have viewers learn about them (and the distinctions among them) through content” (Cortés). The producers of the show decided to make Betty’s family Mexican, as Mexicans represented a large portion of viewers, even though the show was originally a Colombian telenovela. As a whole, Ugly Betty represents the most diverse and well-rounded Latino characters on television. While Betty is more progressive than Eva Longoria or Sofia Vergara’s characters listed above, there is still much work to be done to fully relate to the growing and diverse Latino audience in America today.
Themes & Recommendations After analyzing Hispanic television and music presence in the past and present, and talking with people about Hispanics in media, we noticed several reoccurring themes.
Authenticity
Both Hispanics and non-Hispanics stressed the importance of authenticity in the portrayal of other races in media. The general consensus was that the presence was strong, but that it typically seems like many advertisers in particular are trying to meet a quota by having one person of each race represented in advertisements. Authenticity is key; both whitewashing and the usage of stereotypes were frowned upon, making audiences hesitant of trusting or using the brand. This struggle to achieve balance between whitewashing and stereotypes is something that dates back to even the plight of Carmen Miranda in the 1930’s and continues to this date. One Hispanic focus-group participant pointed out an Old El Paso commercial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gJ-YuGYB8w) for its poor portrayal of Hispanics. She said that not only does the commercial exploit stereotypes, it also fails to accurately represent Hispanic family dynamics. Example Ad: Southwest Airlines ”Hispanic Heritage Month”
Family
Family is central to Hispanic culture, and drives decision making, but the Hispanic family dynamic is unique. Stephanie Bergara stressed the importance of family experience at Pachanga festival, stating that her family is often deterred from festivals and activities that do not welcome children and families. So, family inclusiveness is very important. However, looking back at authenticity, it is essential that the family appeal is done right. As stated before, the inaccurate portrayal of Hispanic family interactions was a key reason that the Old El Paso commercial was so unappealing. Example Ad: Ice Breakers” “Ice Cubes”
Community vs. Cultural Divide:
While many of our interviewees mentioned general pride in “all things brown”, cultural divides rooted in nationality are still prevalent. In a Pew Research report, 50% of those surveyed describe themselves through family origin, rather than as Latino or Hispanic. When shown a Modern Family clip highlighting the divide (http://youtu.be/jAdv1SDwhlQ), non-Hispanics noted the irony, while Hispanics related to the sentiment. After a Mexican-American participant explained the truth behind the scene, other participants likened the divide to American jokes about Canadians or “White Trash”. For advertisers it’s important to understand this national divide, as well as the commonalities that bring the Hispanic community together. Because different American cities have differing demographics in regards to Hispanic nationality (for example, Miami with its heavy concentration of Cuban-Americans and Texas with its concentration of Mexican-Americans), the slight cultural differences can be used in advertising to create a stronger tie between the consumer and the brand. However, caution must be used to avoid ostracizing or offending one group. Example Ad: Gillette: “What’s your style?”
Openness
Members of the general market are very open to Hispanic presence on TV or in music, but are often unaware due to limited exposure. During the focus group, when asked to list Hispanic TV characters, many people came up blank, often listing the same 3 well-known actors. Despite the limited exposure, they expressed affinity for the characters and the cultural diversity that they brought. Participants were able to list more musicians, but choices were limited for the most part to rap and dance/pop genres. When asked about musicians such as Calle 13 and others who are popular among Hispanics, participants were unfamiliar but intrigued, with one even asking about Pachanga Fest details. This openness and appreciation of cultural diversity suggests that the media and marketers could be exposing the general market to more Hispanic elements to reach the Hispanic market without alienating non-Hispanics. One suggested method involves increased use of Hispanic music in general market advertisements. With the trend and success of commercials using unknown indie music to help create “street cred” and brand affinity among young consumers, the use of Hispanic music offers a great way to attract young millenials – both Hispanic and non-Hispanic. Example Ad: Pepsi has done a good job of this through its past campaigns involving Shakira and its current ad campaign,”Sofia Vergara”
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Appendix: Roseann Garcia interviewed by Kirby Dunivan 3:30 p.m. April 9, 2012 Kirby: Are we millennial’s Roseann? Roseann: No idea, I would say yes K: What’s your name? R: My names Roseann Garcia. I’m 22 years old. I grew up in Texas. My parents are from Mexico. K: What would you identify as? R: I guess, uh, Hispanic or Mexican American. Cause even though I was not born in Mexico I grew up speaking Spanish while I was here. That was my first language here in Texas. K: Would you say you are tied to your heritage? R: Yeah I think so. I used to watch a lot of Spanish TV growing up and then my mom is very traditional. I’m like the last generation of kids who like parents came from Mexico. K: What do your parents to? R: They own a restaurant in Devine Texas K: What kinda food do they make? R: Mexican K: I’ve explained a little bit about cross acculturation to you and have you experienced cross acculturation R: Uh I mean I guess since my parents own a Mexican Restaurant everyone asks if its like Tex Mex or it its like actual Mexican authentic food and really its kind of hard to distinguish what is authentic and what isn’t anymore cause my mom came here she never even heard of burrito’s. Burritos is a Tex Mex thing because it was created by people who came here to the United States and mixed Mexican food with stuff that Texans do I guess. so like we don’t sell burritos. Even the enchiladas are made different. I guess that’s where I experience it the most is like people just ask if its Tex mex or authentic and I cant really explain the authenticity and what’s authentic or not.
K: Is there any music that you like that you would say is a blended form? R: There is this one Artist I like to listen to. His name is Manu Chao and he was born I think in Spain but he grew up in France so he has a lot of different fuses between Spanish music be he also uses some reggae and stuff like that and he also speaks French. Actually he speaks like seven different languages. R: In class recently we talked about how Puerto Ricans in New York have there own distinguished hip hop K: What do you think about advertising and Marketing to Hispanics? R: I notice it sometimes. I just feel up some advertisers try to throw it in there a lot. I think the ones that did it really nicely are like HEB ads because it is a big Texas thing and they understand that It needs to be both, like Spanish influence and English. We cant forget that we are in America. I mean most of there commercials have Hispanic actors and speak Spanish. It’s a bilingual thing. I think they did that nicely A lot of Hispanics shop at HEB of course. R: I feel like some advertisers still bring in the idea of colonialism into like some advertisements like commercials especially. Like I dunno if they just don’t think about it. There is one commercial we saw where it’s like an Aztec commercial and it’s almost like these white people were really intrigued by it but then at the same time they took over the Aztec… it was really weird. I dunno its just weird. Defiantly something they need to do a lot of research for. R: They have to be aware. We are changing culturally. Like I said, I’m a first generation. My parents grew up in Mexico but like my kids aren’t gonna be anywhere near as to what I think of and are gonna be nowhere near my parents. K: Cant really hear my voice, I ask about Hispanics and television. R: In movies people ideas of what Hispanics are kind of are transformed are by what we see on television. R: I was reading your little paper on machoism. Do you know Oscar De la Hoya? He’s Hispanic right, but a lot of people didn’t consider him either Mexican or American. Because it was like your Mexican apparently you have to have like wedlock kids and someone who keeps fighting for your life and he didn’t do that. He already had it in the bag. And then a lot of guys didn’t think he was macho enough because all his fans were girls because he was a pretty guy. Its like “your not even cool cause you just get women to watch you fight.” (laughing) So I think, I dunno. I think image on television is a big deal because that’s what our kids are gonna see and that’s what people are seeing everywhere.
So when you see movies like uh I think its Friday after Next, with like you know the “gangster Mexicans” like that’s everyone’s image of what a Hispanic is. A cholo. R: So I come from a school where it was like mostly Hispanics and blacks like we only had one white person at our school. We had no Asians. I didn’t see an Asian till I came to Austin to UT. I mean it wasn’t a big difference but I mean Some people really just don’t understand and they are like “woah who are all those people” and it’s a shock to them but its like shock to me that they don’t understand that we are in a world away. People are always coming in. Really its almost like what is America? Where do we like connect ourselves with. K: Yeah yeah Break in the interview K: Where do you intern at? R: I intern at Latinitas. It’s an organization that was built in El Paso. I think it was UT grad students. It started off as a magazine for young women about whatever they were feeling. Now it came to Austin and what we do is teach after school programs and we just teach women about technology and about the media and how its like tied to Hispanics Our first meeting was how many women hero’s are in television or movies and we could really only think of one. And it was beck in spy kids movie. She was like Hispanic and shes a mom. Like that’s the only hero that’s been on television that’s a women hispanic. K: that’s crazy Yeah that is crazy. So um yeah we just encourage women that there is business in technology or in like the film business or magazine business for Hispanics. And I mean we have targeted, its mostly supposed to be Hispanic girls but our classes allow any girls to come in. I guess its mostly a feminist thing. Its also getting influence to be able to do what you want. I mean I wish they had something like that when I was growing up because I didn’t I mean like I said my parents are from Mexico and they would have never would have thought that I would be doing something with film. But yeah I get to teach little girls. They’re really bad.
Jonathan Baker and Chris interviewed by Kirby Dunivan 6:00pm April 9, 2012
Kirby: All Right Johno you wanna talk about cross-acculturation? Jonathan: Thats what I feel like what I am in this generation. K: Where are your parents from? J: My mom's family is from Mexico. My dad's family is from New Jersey. So its a pretty wide range. They had me. Primarily grew up here in Texas. A little bit out in Germany. I never got the full experience of a Hispanic household as far as from other friends of mine that have. Seems like um a lot more family oriented than uh traditional U.S. Families. K: Was your dad in the army? J: yeah K: Have you moved around alot? J: Mostly just in Texas, San Antonio, Dallas K: Would you say you have a lot of roots to your Mexican Heritage? J: Honestly not really, only because my mom pretty much raised me in a primarily white family. My dad didn’t really even want her to speak to us in Spanish. K: Did he know Spanish? J: No he did not K: Where's your mom from? J: El Paso Johnos friend Chris shows up. K: Oh hey what’s your name? Chris: My name is Chris what's up. K: Where are you from? C: Phildelphia K: What would you say your ethnicity is?
C: Um my family is from Monterray Mexico K: Is your mom and dad both Hispanic C: Yes. My mom is from Chicago, my dad is from Monterrey. My grandparents are from Monterey and from my moms side they are from San Antonio. So yeah pretty Hispanic. K: ok we were just talking about Hispanic culture and heritage in general. C: I think im pretty americanized. Honestly the environment around me is very americanized. Especially being around Austin, and yeah its a different culture. a lot of people do whatever they want i guess not do whatever they want but they express themselves freely here. Philadelphia, New York it's a melting pot as and san antonio with the military base. and personally with me its just a blend.