Bordertown. The Case of Latino Identity examplified by Jennifer Lopez

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Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: A-, The University of Maryland (College Park), course: Latino/a Represenation in U.S. Popular Culture, language: English, abstract: This paper discusses the film Bordertown (2006), directed by Gregory Nava, in relation to the negative portrayal of Latinos/as. Moreover, it takes into account the adherence of the typical mainstream culture industry pattern while having a political agenda. For the analysis of this movie, I will show that this film is a result of Jennifer Lopez¿s attempt to increase her popularity among the Latino community, both in the United States as well as in Mexico. To close, I will apply the concepts discussed in class. Bordertown is a product of the mainstream culture industry that employs a negative representation of Mexico and its people as a result of capitalism. Lauren Adrian¿s character is designed to make Jennifer Lopez more appealing to the Latino audience. After the huge success of Selena (1997), director Gregory Nava has selected pop star Jennifer Lopez to play the main role as Lauren Adrian, a career-minded Mexican-American journalist who lives in Chicago, but is sent to Juarez, Mexico. She is there to investigate the sexual homicides that have happened since the approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1992. Eva, a young victim, makes Lauren reflect upon her own background and decide to fight for the women of Juarez, with the help of her ex-partner, Alfonso Diaz, played by Antonio Banderas. ¿While Lauren initially uses both Eva and Alfonso to get her story, even risking their lives in the process, she eventually comes to care deeply for the terrified young woman, through a process that includes confronting discomfort and denial about her own racial roots, and joining the female workers on the grueling assembly line to feel their pain.¿ (Miller 1). After putting herself in severe danger for her story and after her article is rejected due to political and economical pressure on the newspaper, Lauren leaves her jobs to take over the Mexican newspaper owned by Diaz, who has been shot as a result of his involvement.