From Bananas to Buttocks: The Latina Body in Popular Film and Culture

by Myra Mendible (Editor)

Overview

From the exuberant excesses of Carmen Miranda in the "tutti frutti hat" to the curvaceous posterior of Jennifer Lopez, the Latina body has long been a signifier of Latina/o identity in U.S. popular culture. But how does this stereotype of the exotic, erotic Latina "bombshell" relate, if at all, to real Latina women who represent a wide spectrum of ethnicities, national origins, cultures, and physical appearances? How are ideas about "Latinidad" imagined, challenged, and inscribed on Latina bodies? What racial, class, and other markers of identity do representations of the Latina body signal or reject?

In this broadly interdisciplinary book, experts from the fields of Latina/o studies, media studies, communication, comparative literature, women's studies, and sociology come together to offer the first wide-ranging look at the construction and representation of Latina identity in U.S. popular culture. The authors consider such popular figures as actresses Lupe Vélez, Salma Hayek, and Jennifer Lopez; singers Shakira and Celia Cruz; and even the Hispanic Barbie doll in her many guises. They investigate the media discourses surrounding controversial Latinas such as Lorena Bobbitt and Marisleysis González. And they discuss Latina representations in Lupe Solano's series of mystery books and in the popular TV shows El Show de Cristina and Laura en América. This extensive treatment of Latina representation in popular culture not only sheds new light on how meaning is produced through images of the Latina body, but also on how these representations of Latinas are received, revised, and challenged.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780292714939
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	09/01/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Myra Mendible is Professor in the Interdisciplinary Studies and English programs at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers.

Table of Contents

• Introduction: Embodying "Latinidad": An Overview (Myra Mendible)
• Section One. Case Studies: Silent and Classic Film Era
  • 1. Film Viewing in Latino Communities, 1896-1934: Puerto Rico as Microcosm (Clara E. Rodríguez)
  • 2. Lupe Vélez: Queen of the B's (Rosa Linda Fregoso)
  • 3. Lupe Vélez Regurgitated: Cautionary, Indigestion-Causing Ruminations on "Mexicans" in "American" Toilets Perpetrated While Covetously Screening "Veronica" (William A. Nericcio)
• Section Two. Performing Bodies: Contemporary Film and Music Media
  • 4. Celia's Shoes (Frances Negrón-Muntaner)
  • 5. Salma Hayek's Frida: Transnational Latina Bodies in Popular Culture (Isabel Molina Guzmán)
  • 6. Is Penelope to J.Lo as Culture Is to Nature? Eurocentric Approaches to "Latin" Beauties (Angharad Valdivia)
  • 7. Jennifer Lopez: The New Wave of Border Crossing (Tara Lockhart)
  • 8. "There's My Territory": Shakira Crossing Over (Cynthia Fuchs)
  • 9. "Hey, Killer": The Construction of a Macho Latina, or the Perils and Enticements of Girlfight (Karen R. Tolchin)
• Section Three. Sensational Bodies: Discourses of Latina Femininity
  • 10. On the Semiotics of Lorena Bobbitt (Charla Ogaz)
  • 11. Disorderly Bodies and Discourses of Latinidad in the Elián González Story (Isabel Molina Guzmán)
  • 12. The Body in Question: The Latina Detective in the Lupe Solano Mystery Series (Ana Patricia Rodríguez)
  • 13. La Princesa Plástica: Hegemonic and Oppositional Representations of Latinidad in Hispanic Barbie (Karen Goldman)
  • 14. Chusmas, Chismes, y Escándalos: Latinas Talk Back to El Show de Cristina and Laura en América (Viviana Rojas)
• Notes on Contributors
• Index