Why Hollywood Can’t Put Real-Life Mexicans on TV

*There’s a very good point in the second layer of this story, about how the use of the word “pocho” revealed a telling lack in decision-making Hollywood. The fact that there was no one in the network hierarchy who understood the term, or knew what to make of it, reveals their Latino blind side and their cluelessness about how to fix it. An enlightening read. VL

---

By Gustavo Arellano, OC Weekly (5 minute read)

Last Sunday saw the bittersweet culmination of a dream I dropped 15 years ago, a dream I now want more than ever before. The occasion was the season finale of Bordertown, a FOX cartoon that satirized life on the U.S.-Mexico border and for which I served as a consulting producer. It was a historic series, the first cartoon starring Latinos on prime time. And the conclusion to Season 1, titled “Viva Coyote,” was my first writing credit and helped me get my Writer’s Guild of America (WGA), West membership—yay!

But I held no viewing party, had no friends and family over to mark the achievement. It was also the series finale for Bordertown, as FOX had announced its cancellation two weeks earlier. We just never got the ratings or critical buzz to justify a second season for executives. And that same week, all the networks and many cable, web and streaming outlets began announcing their new shows for the fall season—and only one will focus on Latinos . . . READ MORE

---

---

Gustavo Arellano is the editor of OC Weekly, author of the syndicated column ¡Ask a Mexican!, and Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. He started at the paper with an angry, fake letter to the editor and went from there—only in Anacrime!

[Photo courtesy of Fox]

Suggesated reading

This critically acclaimed play by Luis Valdez cracks open the depiction of Chicanos on stage, challenging viewers to revisit a troubled moment in our nation’s history. From the moment the myth-infused character of El Pachuco burst onto the stage, cutting his way through the drop curtain with a switchblade, Luis Valdez spurred a revolution in Chicano theater.

Focusing on the events surrounding the Sleepy Lagoon Murder Trial of 1942 and the ensuing Zuit Soot Riots that turned Los Angeles into a bloody war zone, this is a gritty and vivid depiction of the horrifying violence and racism suffered by young Mexican Americans on the home front during World War II. Valdez’s cadre of young urban characters struggle with the stereotypes and generalizations of America’s dominant culture, the questions of assimilation and patriotism, and a desire to rebel against the mainstream pressures that threaten to wipe them out.

Experimenting with brash forms of narration, pop culture of the war era, and complex characterizations, this quintessential exploration of the Mexican-American experience in the United States during the 1940’s was the first, and only, Chicano play to open on Broadway.

This collection contains three of playwright and screenwriter Luis Valdez’s most important and recognized plays: Zoot Suit, Bandido! and I Don’t Have to Show You No Stinking Badges. The anthology also includes an introduction by noted theater critic Dr. Jorge Huerta of the University of California-San Diego. Luis Valdez, the most recognized and celebrated Hispanic playwright of our times, is the director of the famous farm-worker theater, El Teatro Campesino.

[cc_product sku=”978-1-55885-048-4″ display=”inline” quantity=”true” price=”true”]