Alexis Brianna Dominguez
Professor Flores
Chicano/Latino Studies 63
20 November 2018
La Lucha Por La Aceptación: Ties Between the Modern-Day Chicano Struggle and Selena
The movie Selena is a biographical musical genre film that was directed by Gregory Nava and released in 1997. The film focuses on the life and achievements of the late Tejano-music superstar Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. The Mexican-American singer began to rise to fame very early in her life due to her musically-savvy father’s spontaneous decision to put his children in a self-made musical group, which was later called “Selena y Los Dinos.” After enduring a rocky first several years of performing and multiple attempts from Selena’s mother Marcela to Abraham’s mind about putting the children in the spotlight, the band finally began to gain attention. Selena, who is constantly pushed by her father to sing Spanish songs, was never taught Spanish and had a hard time speaking the language; however, it is her Spanish music that ultimately shoots her to stardom. The film successfully captures many intimate moments in the singer’s life — from her secret relationship with her guitarist Chris to the embezzlement that was committed by Yolanda Saldívar, the manager of her fanclub. When both Abraham and Selena had discovered that Yolanda had been embezzling money from both her fanclub and her boutique (Selena Etc.), they decide to confront her. Selena later agreed to meet Yolanda at the Days Inn Motel, where she was tragically shot and killed after demanding financial records from the woman. Aside from the starlet herself, the film places a major emphasis on the modern day struggles that Mexican-Americans face on a daily basis
The United States’ relationship with Mexico is a complicated one that dates back all the way to the mid 1800s. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is a peace treaty that was passed by both the United States and Mexico in order to put an end to the Mexican-American War; however, the signing of this treaty caused Mexico to lose ownership of a large amount of land. The treaty allowed Mexican citizens to keep their culture, speak Spanish, keep ownership of their land grants, and even choose between staying in the United States or moving back to Mexico (only a small percentage of people decided to stay in the States). Mexico underwent political turmoil, and the United States experienced their first wave of migration from Mexico in the early 1900s due to the new development of railroads that connected all 48 contiguous states. This influx of migrants caused nativism to grow, and Mexicans became indentured servants. During this time, immigration policies towards Mexicans were lax due to the growing need of labor. The Great Depression in 1929 ushered in both a new wave of immigration and a new wave of deportation. The United States desperately needed someone to blame for the economy being in such poor condition, so Mexicans were used as scapegoats, which caused the country’s growing nativism to be majorly focused on Mexicans. Approximately 500,000 Mexicans working in the field of agriculture were arrested and sent back to Mexico. However, the arrival of WWII prompted both the U.S. government and agricultural farmers to approach Mexico in order to create the 1942 Bi-national Treaty, which allowed Mexicans to receive a work visa in order to work in the secondary sector. This also brought forward the creation of the Bracero Program. Agricultural workers were still unable to meet the demand that the war brought, so they began to hire undocumented workers. Operation Wetback was the United States’ solution for bringing in too many braceros, which resulted in deporting approximately 1 million braceros working in the country. Still, thousands upon thousands of Mexicans underwent horrible mistreatment during the time of the Bracero Program — whether it be being sprayed by pesticides or being fed food that caused them to fall ill, on top of not allowing them access to adequate healthcare. Whichever way it is viewed, Braceros were exploited solely for the interests of America and its corporations. The Mexican economy collapsed in 1982, thus leading to a very sharp decline in visas and social capital. This brought forth an explosion of undocumented migration to the U.S. Border control was then increased by 50% and put under militarization, and Mexicans today are still suffering due to the decisions and actions of the U.S. government. Mexicans are now seen as the American enemy.
Many scenes in the film Selena shine a very bright and obvious spotlight on the struggle that is still affecting Mexican-Americans today. The Quintanilla Family is that of a whirlwind; the Chicano family is often shown struggling with being accepted by the country they live in and being accepted by the country their heritage and culture derives from. This paper will expand on sociological concepts, such as context of reception, segmented assimilation, new economic theory, theories on family dynamics, race-gender outlook, gendered division of labor, and ethnic pluralism — through the analysis of this film.
FINDINGS
Context of Reception. One sociological concept that is demonstrated in the film is the context of reception, which is shown very early during its runtime. When Selena’s father Abraham and his trio, Los Dinos, decide to audition to be performers at a local club, the club owner is shown to be extremely doubtful of them and their talent. He quickly calls an associate and exclaims “I don’t care if the kids like them, they’re a bunch of Mexicans. I thought they were going to be Italians. I can’t have that in my club! This club is whites-only.” Infuriated by the man’s lack of faith in them, Los Dinos decide to leave with their heads held high. Later that day, they arrive at a club while exclaiming “ain’t nobody kicking us out of this joint! After all, they’re Tejanos and Mexicanos like us!” However, as they sing songs in English, the crowd begins to riot. Remarks such as “that’s gringo music!” and “play some Mexican music, we want to dance to some real music! Get out of here!” are angrily shouted at them. Unable to control the angry mob, the club owner kicks them out of the club, and they are carried away by a police officer. Context of reception is representory of the light in which immigrant groups are received in the U.S. and what resources are available to them thereafter. Mexicans are viewed in a negative light in the U.S., so the number of resources and opportunities that are available to them are few (the white club owner not allowing Los Dinos to audition). However, Los Dinos also experience the complete opposite scenario when they perform in the Mexican-owned club, and they are ultimately kicked out for performing English songs (marginalization).
Segmented assimilation theory. Furthermore, the segmented assimilation theory can also apply to the events that Los Dinos experienced. In 1993, Alejandro Portes and Min Zhou theorized that post-1995 immigrant groups would grow to live in one of three different paths of assimilation; it is argued that Mexicans fall under the path of downward assimilation. In downward assimilation, paths to mobility are blocked, and immigrant groups are identified as radicalized minorities. The American club owner identified Los Dinos as radicalized minorities due to the negative light in which they have been painted in the country, thus blocking their path to mobility by not giving them a chance to audition. In their article entitled Culture, Language, and the Americanization of Mexican Children, Gilbert Gonzalez states the concept of assimilation originated from the modernization process put in place by the government, which was later referred to as “Americanization.” Communities that were known as being “immigrant communities” were seen as being threats to the “well-being” and prosperity of a country’s society. In short, assimilation as a whole is and has been a purposeful tactic and process that has been put in place by the U.S. government for decades in order to “Americanize” both newcomers and anybody extremely immersed in their own culture.
The New Economic Theory. This theory states that collectives, families, and communities are an important unit of analysis, in which efforts become collective when market failures need to be overcome. In the film, Abraham claims that he formed Selena y Los Dinos in order to have it act as an additional source of family income, and this was ultimately a collective decision that was made and agreed to by every single person in the Quintanilla Family.
Theories on Family Dynamics. Furthermore, the film shines light on the importance of family throughout its entire runtime. According to the theories on family dynamics, Latino family values includes familism and collectivism. Selena y Los Dinos began as a small family act that soon sky rocketed; although they experienced a very quick surge to fame, they still remained in the same band together. To every single Quintanilla, there was a large amount of importance placed on remaining a tight-knit, family-oriented act.
Race-Gender Outlooks. Both race-gender outlooks and gendered division of labor are clearly exercised in the film through Selena and her rising career. Early in her career, many individuals did not take her seriously because she was a woman and, at the time, women were not successful in Tejano music since it was dominated by men. Since Selena was both Mexican-American and a woman, it took a large amount of effort in order to get the music industry to accept her as she was. In the sixth chapter of her novel Fragmented Ties, Cecilia Menjívar states that “gender is political because it contributes to unequal access to [resources] on the basis of sexual difference…women derive fewer economic advantages from networks with coethnics than do their male counterparts.” As a result of not being taken seriously because of both her gender and ethnicity, the spectrum of opportunities and paths made available to Selena were much less than how many there would have been if she had been a white male instead.
Gendered Division of Labor. Gendered division of labor includes social control and sexual policing. In Hopeful Girls, Troubled Boys, it is stated that young women have to undergo very strict policing and control, and not men (Lopez 123). This alone can directly apply to a major event that occured in the film. Selena fell in love with Chris Peréz, her guitarist. Their relationship was kept a secret from Abraham, to which he eventually found out and forbid Selena from ever seeing Chris again. Abraham even went as far as firing Chris the day before a major performance. However, it is simple to come to to the conclusion that Abraham wouldn’t have done the same thing to Selena’s brother A.B.
Ethnic Pluralism. In 1970, Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Nathan Glazer created the concept of ethnic pluralism, or the theory of the state of society in which members of diverse, ethnic, racial, religious, or social groups maintain and develop their traditional culture or special interest within the confines of a common civilization. However, the individuals in the film experience the negative side of this sociological concept. While driving to a tour stop in Mexico, Abraham turns to Selena and her brother, and rants “we’re Mexican-American, and they [Mexico] don’t like Mexican Americans. The Anglos will jump all over you if you don’t speak English perfectly, Mexicans jump all over you if you don’t speak Spanish perfectly. Our family has been here for centuries, yet they treat us as if we just swam across the Rio Grande…we must prove to the Mexicans how Mexican we are, prove to the Americans we're American. Nobody knows how tough it is to be Mexican-American.” In their 2009 article titled Brown Picket Fences, Jody Agius Vallejo and Jennifer Lee states “The minority culture of mobility… helps to explain how racial/ethnic minorities deal with the distinct challenged that accompany being a racial/ethnic minority and middle class…middle-class Latinos must learn how to navigate successfully in white cultural milieus such as the workplace in which they have to adopt middle-class white speech patterns and behavior… Problems such as these are unique to middle-class minorities and may lead immigrants to adopt a minority culture of mobility.” It has been suggested that Chicanos “[are] proud of their Mexican heritage but saw themselves as different from the first group, the recién llegados (recently arrived), as well as from the native-born” (Portes and Zhou 88). Abraham Quintanilla serves as a clear representation of an Americanized Mexican that is having trouble finding identification and resonance with either individual group, which is a large problem that many Chicanos struggle with today.
ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS
I chose to analyze the film Selena simply because I have always been a fan of the superstar. Furthermore, I thought that it would be extremely interesting to view her life through a sociological lens instead one of idolization. I have watched the film a handful of times in the past, but it is an entirely new experience every single time I watch it. Various sociological concepts and theories learned in class, such as context of reception, segmented assimilation, new economic theory, theories on family dynamics, race-gender outlook, gendered division of labor, and ethnic pluralism, are relevant to the film and all can easily be seen in and applied to numerous events that occured in Selena’s life. I believe the future of the incorporation pattern of Mexicans is a continuance of alienation and disidentification. With the condition of America’s political climate and the repeated attacks and harassment on Mexicans, it is difficult to see the status and perceptions of Mexicans ever improving in the future.
Bibliography
Gonzalez, Gilbert G. Chicano Education in the Era of Segregation: Culture, Language and the Americanization of Mexican Children. The Balch Institute Press, 1990.
Lopez, Nancy. Hopeful Girls, Troubled Boys: Race and Gender Disparity in Urban Education. Routledge, 2003.
Menjívar, Cecilia. Fragmented Ties: Salvadoran Immigrant Networks in America. Univ. of California Press, 2006.
Portes, Alejandro, and Min Zhou. The New Second Generation: Segmented Assimilation and Its Variants. Sage, 1993.
Vallejo, Jody A., and Jennifer Lee. Brown Picket Fences: The Immigrant Narrative and 'Giving Back' Among the Mexican-Origin Middle Class. Sage, 2009.