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Lecture 9: Lecture 9: What’s a crossover butt?What’s a crossover butt?

Professor Daniel Bernardi /

Professor Michelle Martinez

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In the last lecture…In the last lecture…

Scene from Westside Story (Robbins & Wise, 1961)

• The Politics of Space- Urban Latinos

• Drawing the Line-“A Place for Us”

• West Side Story (1961)

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In this Lecture…In this Lecture…

• Crossover Theory

• Selena and Selena

• Jennifer Lopez’s Cross-over Appeal

You can pause the lecture at any point, click on one of the hyperlinks (text that is underlined) to visit a site or view a clip, and then return to the same point in the lecture when you’re ready.

Selena J-Lo as Selena

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Crossover TheoryCrossover Theory

Lecture 9: Part 1

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What is a crossover?What is a crossover?

• Star’s Popularity Crosses:– Markets– Nations– Demographics

• Jennifer Lopez– TV, Movies, Music, Fashion– U.S.A, Europe, Latin America– Puerto Rican, African American,

Latino/a, European Americans• Youth, Twenties and Thirties, etc.

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Some crossovers?Some crossovers?• Star’s Popularity Crosses Demographics

– Paula Abdul: Dancer & Cheerleader, Pop Music Star, Television Star, Fashion Star

• Star’s Popularity Crosses Nations– Jackie Chan: Hong Kong & U.S.A.

• Star’s Popularity Crosses Demographics– Shack: Sports Fans, Kids, Rap Music Fans

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MainstreamMainstream

• Market: Multimedia

• Nation: U.S.A & English-Speaking

• Demographics: European American, Young, Male and Female

• Disposable Income• Interest in Fads and

Trends

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DownstreamDownstream

• Market: One Medium (music, TV, etc.)

• Nation: One Nation

• Demographics: “Subculture” • Latino, Black, etc.• Punk, Country, etc.

Suggested Supplemental Reading:

Subculture: The Meaning of Style by Dick Hebdige

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Swimming UpstreamSwimming Upstream

• Market: More and More Popular Mediums

• Nation: Global Appeal

• Demographics: Mainstream• European American Market – Largest

Percent of Disposable Income• Maintain “Subcultures”

• Accusations of Selling Out– Authenticity Vs Wide Appeal

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The Politics of Selling OutThe Politics of Selling Out

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““Ethnic” ImplicationsEthnic” Implications

• How do ethnic stars crossover?– From Elvis to Michael Jackson

• Cut Cultural Signifiers for Those Acceptable to Mainstream / European American Market

– Straightening Hair– “Eye” Surgery– Toning Down Accent

• Maintain “Ethnic” Sex Appeal

Elvis Presley

Michael Jackson

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Ideological CostsIdeological Costs

• Star Earns Greater Popularity and Profit

• Diverse Audiences Experience Star

• Cultural Factors are “Assimilated”• Sell Out• Stereotype

• Ideological Result: Whitewashing

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Some Crossover Stars Transcend Some Crossover Stars Transcend Whitewashing Whitewashing

• Paul Robeson (1889 – 1976)– Born to a Former Slave– Educated (Law Degree)– Music and Movies

• Mohammed Ali (1942 - )– Born Cassius Clay – Anti-War Protestor– Sports, Music, Movies

Paul Robeson

Mohammed Ali

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The Big PointThe Big Point

There are ideological implications for the “Ethnic” star in crossing over markets, nations and

communities/cultures. To sell to the mainstream – to European American audiences w/ lots of disposable income – the star must become

whitewashed, forgoing a great deal of cultural specificity, while at the same time maintaining their “exotic” appeal (e.g., stereotype). Some stars manage to transcend the whitewashing

effect. Our concern, of course, is whether Selena or Jennifer Lopez do?

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Selena and Selena and SelenaSelena (1997) (1997)

Lecture 9: Part 2

SelenaJ-Lo as Selena

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Short Selena BioShort Selena Bio

• Lake Jackson, Texas on April 16, 1971

• Father Created Band Feature Daughter at Age 9: Selena and The Guys

• Lived Poor Until Career Took off in 1986

• Tejano Music Star / Fashion– Performed in Spanish

• Process of Crossing Over– Recorded in English

• Shot Dead at Age 23 (Yolanda Saldivar )

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Selena’s SuccessSelena’s Success

• Revealed Latino/a Market• Hinted at Crossover Appeal

– Music and Fashion– Mexican and Puerto Rican (Latino)– Spanish and English– Music and Fashion– Films and Media– Appeal Hinged on Sexuality

• Crossover Process Suggests Commitment to Roots and Ethnicity

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SelenaSelena

Read 1995 Houston Chronicle news story, Singer Selena shot to death, by ARMANDO VILLAFRANCA, PATTY REINERT

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The Latinized American DreamThe Latinized American Dream

“Unlike most Latino youths, who get killed after a drug deal has gone sour

or a bullet surprisingly arrives with their name on it, Selena has passed on to sainthood: not only for dying young, but for dying on the way to

another, better place; the immigrant fantasies of the seamless plot known

as the American Dream.” – Frances Negrón-Muntaner

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The Big PointThe Big Point

Selena the music star revealed the profitability of the Latino/a market and the potential of the mainstream

market to accept Latina stardom. This is the American Dream. In many ways, she facilitated the Latino craze of the late 1990s (e.g., Ricky Martin,

etc.). Yet she seemingly maintained a commitment to her Tejano roots, language and culture. We will

never know if her crossover appeal would have resulted in whitewashing or, like Paul Robeson and

Mohammed Ali, something much greater.

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SelenaSelena Credits Credits

• Released in 1997

• Directed by Gregory Nava • Stars Jennifer Lopez as

Selena and Edward James Olmos as her Father

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Plot SummaryPlot Summary“Selena tells the story of Latin Queen Selena

Quintanilla-Perez, who was the most popular Latin Singer at the time of her tragic death at the age of

only 23 years in 1995. The film tells the story of the singer as she is accidentally discovered by her own father at the age of 10. Her life story takes off when Jennifer Lopez accurately portrays Selena through

her unforgettable concerts, her family struggles, and her secret marriage to her guitarist Chris

Perez.”

Summary written by Annonymous

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Jennifer Lopez as SelenaJennifer Lopez as Selena

• Suggests Latina Star (crossover)

• Minor Protest Among Chicanos

• Lopez in Process of Crossing Over– Film Secured that Process

• Talent: Sing, Dance and Perform

• Similar “Latina” Body Types

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Latina BodiesLatina Bodies

“Jennifer Lopez's close identification with Selena seemed not only based on their parallel crossover successes, but on a common experience of having a similar build, a body generally considered abject by American standards of beauty and propriety.”

– Frances Negrón-Muntaner

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Butt…Butt…“Although race was hardly mentioned in this debate

over curves and rear ends, for any Caribbean interlocutor, references to this part of the human

anatomy are often a way of speaking about Africa in(side) America… And despite the fact that Selena

was Chicana, an ethnicity not associated in the Caribbean popular imagination with big butts, size

was definitely curvy. ‘Jennifer has the same measurements Selena had,’ said Julle Kamlrez,

Selena's seamstress. In fact, Selena's butt was, from a Puerto Rican perspective, one of the elements that

made her not specifically Chicana, but ‘Latina’.”– Frances Negrón-Muntaner

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Why the Butt?Why the Butt?Our concern is the degree to which Selena the film situated Jennifer Lopez as a crossover star based on her Latina “qualities” in relation to the

singer, Selena. The film sits between two crossover Latinas: one that was on the verge of maintaining cultural diversity and another that, I

will argue later, sold it out. The cause – and thus the evidence for the sellout – seems to center on the increasing and later decreasing of Jennifer

Lopez’s butt, the sign of the butt in Puerto Rican culture, and the obsession with her body in the

popular press (and among filmmakers).

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Jennifer Lopez’s Jennifer Lopez’s Crossover Appeal?Crossover Appeal?

Lecture 9: Part 3

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Jennifer’s ButtJennifer’s Butt

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Where’s the butt?Where’s the butt?

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Class Discuss: Is she a sellout?Class Discuss: Is she a sellout?

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End of Lecture 9End of Lecture 9

Next Lecture:

Who are the “reel” aliens?