Closing The Telenovela's Tidy Nation Analysis

Furthermore, Latino media in America also has a strong influence over how populations are perceived in a society. In “Closing the Telenovela’s Borders: Vivo por Elena’s Tidy Nation,” scholar Adriana Estill analyses Latino telenovelas as a platform where “nationality, nationalism, and Nation are produced and reproduced” (Estill 75). Through government involvement and censorship, telenovelas can create “an ideal space where the ideal citizen is constructed and disseminated” (Estill 85). Racial division is present in telenovelas when the lower class Latino characters have noticeable indigenous or mestizo features, while the rich characters and protagonists are represented by White actors (Estill 81). Estill primarily bases her research on the telenovela Vivo por Elena, where an Afro-Latino plays the leader of the local pandilla, or gang, and he is teasingly nicknamed “el güero.” In this case it is noticed that these darker-skinned Latino people are given the racial …show more content…
PopSugar celebrated Kylie Jenner as a Latina due to the way she looks, dresses, and how she “shows off her booty like Jennifer Lopez” (Richards). Thus, media creates the misleading perception that being Latina is simply dressing up and flaunting your booty. This incredibly oversimplifies the situation of Latino identity in the real world. PopSugar later came out with a somewhat-apologetic statement, denying that the article claimed Kylie Jenner is a Latina (Richards). Yet, this is hard to believe since the article explicitly compared Jenner to Latina celebrities. No matter how similar Jenner and other Latinas look, dress, or even flaunt their booties, what the media fails to realize is none of these things make someone Latina; Latino is a culture, not another new fad generated by the