Review: Talking #browntv: Latinas and Latinos on the Screen, by Frederick Luis Aldama and William Anthony Nericcio

Abstract

This book is comprised of a mediaphilic conversation between the two authors as they revisit a wide array of Latinx representations in U.S. popular culture, and a visual essay that runs in parallel accompaniment. The latter draws on frame grabs from comics and television shows, poster art, and Nericcio’s own graphic mashups of past and present Latinx icons, from Erik Estrada to Eva Longoria, all in brilliant color. Divided into five thematically organized sections, and an introductory and concluding chapter, the protean discussion glosses an ample range of media, from animation and comics to sitcoms to dramedies and horror series, with a steady emphasis on television, spanning over five decades of transmission and what Roland Barthes would call “decanting.” In their self-reflective dialogue, the authors wax nostalgic—the prevailing perception is that, with few exceptions, the quality if not the quantity of Latinx televisual presence has declined with time. They occasionally dip into disillusionment and often express ambivalence toward the cultural objects of their collaborative cathexis. In addition to the authors, the protagonists of this exploration are mainly Latinx actors and characters, as the emphasis is on the casting politics surrounding them, and performance style and body image of human and anthropomorphized elements on the screen, laced with attention to dialogue and meaningful plot twists. The work of two Latinx auteurs, Alex Rivera and Robert Rodríguez, is showcased. The authors apply a range of analytical frames with references to poststructural and postcolonial theory. They scrutinize media performances and audiovisual compositions through the lens of semiotic close-reading, intertextual analysis, and cognitive reception theory.In the first section, the authors consider whether an amplification in screen representation, which still lags behind the statistical presence of Latinxs in the United States, has been of tangible benefit to the community. In a field driven by business rather than cultural logic, where is the substance and have Latinxs fared better as consumers than as producers and actors? Section II, “Pinche Paradoxes,” is devoted to a critique of cross-casting—both interethnic, as with the Filipino-American actor Lou Diamond Phillips, and intraethnic, as in the case of Cuban-American actor Steven Bauer. Special attention is given to the related phenomena of brown-facing and “brown-voicing,” or trying to sound “Mexican,” and what the authors perceive as occasional Latinx complicity with these practices. Section III, “Sombreros to Pistoleros” traces the trajectory of Mexican bandits and superheroes from pre-televisual silent cinema through D.C. comics characters—with an homage to Chicana Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman—to Battlestar Galactica and the music videos of Alex Rivera. Section IV is devoted to a consideration of children’s programming, such as cartoons featuring Speedy Gonzales, The Super Friends, and the Mexican show El Chapulín Colorado, as well as programming for teens and young adults, such as The Simpsons and food-focused films, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013) and Tortilla Soup (2001). In the process, the authors comment on the voicing of animated characters by Latinx actors. Section V tackles the “Latinx threat” narrative, with references to Brian de Palma’s Scarface (1983) and narcotraficante narratives, including the borderlands work of Robert Rodríguez in the Machete film series and a nod to digital webisode series such as Brujos (2017) and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013-2016). This is perhaps the most eclectic chapter as it exposes the failings of National Geographic’s Underworld, Inc. (2015) and Breaking Bad (2008–2013) to deliver complex, informative renderings of border crossing, contrasted with the experimental ethnography of Jason de León and Lalo Alcaraz’s work in the short-lived, animated Bordertown (2016). At the end of the section, Aldama and Nericcio define #browntv as “part of an evolution of a place, the birth of a revolutionary space, where an ontological incubator appears, nurturing a decidedly brown tomorrow” (p. 131). According to the concluding chapter, that tomorrow harbors queer Latinx romantic and erotic graphic art, as well as queer Latinx characters on television shows such as The Office (2005–2013) and 13 Reasons Why (2017), and they even mention the altersexuality in Alfonso Cuarón’s Y Tu Mamá También (2001), as a corrective to the heteronormative discourse of some of the Latinx depictions previously discussed, whether disparaging or edifying. Written in a pithy, colloquial style, the book engages the reader as an ally in the quest for uplifting representations. In effect, the authors invite readers to participate in an ongoing discussion of #browntv on Facebook and Instagram. With its nuanced interpretations, attention to affect, and capaciousness with regard to the media analyzed, this is a welcome addition to the growing scholarship on Latinx representation in electronic and digital media. A well-compiled index facilitates the navigation of the book as a reference text.