Abstract
The CW’s Jane The Virgin (JTV) is the most recent broadcast network show to feature Latinas and issues of immigration and citizenship at the forefront. JTV (2014–2019) appeals to and offers portrayals of immigrants, including first-, second-, and third-generation Americans, through multi-dimensional characters and storylines. In this chapter, I draw on Andrea Pitts’ (2016) discussion of Gloria Anzaldúa’s autohistoria-teoría to illustrate how media portrayals of Latinas in JTV have shaped my first-generation Mexican American self-knowledge/ignorance regarding immigration and Latinx citizenship. JTV’s engagement of the immigrant experience in a multi-generational family not only advocates for “#IMMIGRATIONREFORM” but also illustrates the role of media in fostering identity-making for the Latinx diaspora.
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Notes
- 1.
Jane The Virgin, hereafter JTV, wrapped its fifth and final season in July 2019 and outlived its predecessor, and first U.S. telenovela adaptation and dramedy, Ugly Betty (2006–2010) by one season.
- 2.
The city of Miami in JTV comes to represent a hybrid cultural space much like Ugly Betty’s workplace at Mode becomes culturally and socially significant as representative of white American culture (Murillo Sandoval & Escala Rabadán, 2013; Avila-Saavedra, 2010). In JTV, Latinxs are integrated into the fabric of the city through cultural elements including food trucks selling Cubano sandwiches (Episode 15, Season 1) and music festivals such as Calle Ocho (Episode 16, Season 1). Unlike in Ugly Betty, all public and private spaces in JTV are open to the Villanuevas.
- 3.
See also Valdivia’s discussion of the global commodification of Latinidad, which she argues rests on the backs of women, through Ugly Betty, Dora The Explorer, and Latina celebrities Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek, and Afro-Latina Celia Cruz (2011).
- 4.
The state of Arizona adopted “English-only” instruction in public schools in 2000. Arizona continues to be the only state in the nation with an “English-only” mandate in public schools as of January 2020 (Jacobson, 2020). Research shows that this approach to education has not worked and is detrimental to English-language learners (Hoffman, 2019).
- 5.
Gina Rodriguez’s Spanish language use was criticized in popular media regarding her portrayal of Jane (Fox News, 2015). Rodriguez is not fluent in Spanish and represents a challenge to the notion that all Latinxs share a common language.
- 6.
Jane and Rafael are concerned because Mateo’s speech is not developing as fast as his peers in preschool. They take him to see the pediatrician and she asks if Mateo is part of a bilingual household. Jane says that she and her grandmother speak to him in Spanish. The pediatrician reassures Jane that children in bilingual households might see delayed linguistic abilities. However, their vocabulary suddenly expands (Episode 9, Season 3). This moment is important because JTV suggests that teaching children multiple languages is good.
- 7.
In a flashback scene, Alba helps young Jane come up with an acronym, “CALMA,” to recite when she is angry. Young Jane comes up with “Cheese, Abuela, Lists, and Mr. Monkey.” Alba asks Jane about the other “A” and Jane tells her Abuela that she prefers “CALM.” In English. Here, Alba is accommodating of Jane’s growing acculturation of English (Episode 8, Season 2).
- 8.
Though, it is important to note that the Villanuevas are also clearly familiar with U.S. soap operas. In a flashback scene, young Jane asks why telenovelas end when Days of Our Lives is “on season 34.” Alba explains:
Las telenovelas son diferentes, mi amor. Siempre tienen un final. Pero es un final feliz. Los buenos siempre obtienen lo que se merecen. ¡Y casi siempre terminan en una boda! : Telenovelas are different, my love. They always have an ending. But it’s a happy one. The good people [always] get what they deserve. And there’s usually a wedding! (Episode 19, Season 5).
- 9.
This telenovela became so popular with viewers that The CW and writers of JTV agreed to release a short novel to address how the protagonists, Santos and Blanca, met. The network decided on a chapter-by-chapter release in both English and Spanish through the online platform Wattpad (Jarvey, 2015).
- 10.
Petra and Magda watch the episode where Rogelio, cast as Santos, calls himself the President of Ecuaduras del Norte (Episode 6, Season 1). Ivan Rogachevsky, sent to blackmail Petra and Magda by Petra’s Czech ex-boyfriend Miloš Dvořáček, watches in Czech (Episode 7, Season 1) and later watches in Spanish with the hope of learning how to escape from Santos, who is trapped in a dungeon by pirates (Episode 9, Season 1). Petra shows Lachlan Moore, her ex-fiancé, the telenovela and books the Paloma awards’ after-party at the Marbella (Episode 8, Season 1). This awards show is “the Oscars of the telenovela genre” and Marlene Favela, from Gata Salvaje (2002–2003) and Los Herederos del Monte (2011), wins best supporting actress (Episode 9, Season 1).
- 11.
The Villanuevas celebrate Mother’s Day with pints of ice cream and binge-watching telenovelas (Episode 20, Season 2).
- 12.
Alba tells Jorge that she loves telenovelas particularly because they helped her feel connected to Xiomara. Alba says, “Xiomara and I used to fight so much. But even when I feel most distant from her, we had this time, every night, when we were together and we were both thinking about the same thing” (Episode 18, Season 3).
- 13.
In television studies, subtle and not-so-subtle nods to other texts are known as intertextual references. Through intertextuality, audiences can place a text in a chronology of other television shows. More importantly, intertextual references can add depth, meaning, and even comedic effect to a text. As a method of analysis, intertextuality helps us better explore how audiences familiar with multiple texts being invoked might reinterpret the main text (Gray & Lotz, 2012).
- 14.
Rogelio moves on to other telenovelas, including Pasión Intergalactica (Episode 14, Season 1), Tiago a Través del Tiempo (Episode 10–13, Season 2), and Los Viajes de Guillermo (Episode 15–16, Season 3; Episode 6, Season 4). He also stars in The De La Vega-Factor Factor reality series with Darci Factor (Episode 10, Season 3).
- 15.
La Reina del Sur’s Kate Del Castillo makes a guest appearance as Rogelio De La Vega’s ex-wife Luciana Leon (Episode 3, Season 2).
- 16.
Aparicio’s (2003) study on Latinidad through Quintanilla, and Lopez’ embodiment of the singer on the movie, addresses the importance of Selena’s life and the question of authenticity. Aparicio advances an oppositional and decolonizing Latinidad by addressing the commonalities shared by both women, including similar historical experiences and being objectified through cultural gazes by “dominant, patriarchal forces, in the public space” (2003, p. 94).
- 17.
JTV’s title song, Una Flor, is performed by Juanes who also guest stars as music producer Elliot Lantana (Episode 8, Season 1).
- 18.
Bisbal also makes a guest appearance and performs Esclavo de sus besos at Calle 8 (Episode 16, Season 1).
- 19.
Diane Guerrero, who portrays Lina Santillan in JTV, is also part of the OITNB cast. Guerrero is also an immigration reform activist and co-author of In the country we love: My family divided (2016) with Michelle Burford detailing her experience in being ripped apart from her undocumented parents who were deported to Colombia while in high school.
- 20.
Eva Longoria Baston’s adaptation of the Spanish original premiered on ABC in June 2019 (Shattuck, 2019).
- 21.
Jane misses her college graduation due to a necessary medical test to make sure the baby is healthy. This episode treats Jane’s accomplishment as a collective triumph and dream come true for the Villanueva women, as it took Jane six years to graduate (Episode 13, Season 1).
- 22.
Through interviewing Alba (Episode 3, Season 3), reading her Abuela’s correspondence with her sister (Episode 5, Season 3), and studying her old photographs (Episode 3, Season 3), Jane conducts research on the Villanueva family tree, connects with distant relatives, and finds inspiration for a novel. She draws on elements of the telenovela genre to texture her writing and has a breakthrough when Alba gives a speech about citizenship and “making one out of many” (Episode 17, Season 4).
- 23.
Alba tells Jane that her husband, Mateo, came from a wealthy family in Venezuela. Mateo’s family had investments in Venezuela’s oil industry (Episode 8, Season 1). Alba tells Jane, “he gave up everything he had to move to this country. He worked so hard. And all for me because I wanted to come here” (Episode 13, Season 1).
- 24.
This episode aired on January 19, 2015, a day prior to then-President Obama’s State of the Union Address. The show’s hashtag surged on Twitter following the episode, which drew the show’s largest audience, 1.4 million viewers, at the time (Swann, 2015).
- 25.
However, this subplot is “too good to be true” because hospitals have complete discretion in enforcing medical repatriation (Swann, 2015).
- 26.
Much like my father, Jorge reveals to Alba that he has been working at the Marbella with a social security number that belongs to one of his cousins (Episode 17, Season 3). This is another moment where the narrative in JTV complicates issues of immigration and might generate identification with immigrants who share this experience.
- 27.
Four years later, Mateo and Alba are celebrating the same holiday with arepas, and their toddler Xiomara curiously says, “it’s the Fourth of July, why are they eating hotdogs?” (Episode 17, Season 4).
- 28.
Rafael Agustín, one of the writers for JTV, recounts drawing on his experiences as an undocumented immigrant to add depth to the writing for “a more authentic and uniquely American character in Alba” (Agustín, 2018). By disclosing specifics in the writers’ room, such as “the scary yet laughable experience of an immigration official trying to stump” him during his citizenship test and how deeply moving Fourth of July fireworks had been for him, Agustín suggests that immigrant writers must be hired on to more fairly and accurately depict immigrants in television (2018). He critiques the trend in hiring consultants in TV writing rooms as a bandage solution for the systematic lack of diversity in Hollywood (Chan, 2018).
- 29.
The Netflix remake of the original CBS sitcom (1975–1984) narrates the lives of a multi-generational Cuban-American family. Penelope Alvarez, played by Justina Machado, raises two kids with the help of her Cuban mother Lydia Riera, played by Rita Moreno. In the episode “Citizen Lydia,” Lydia and Schneider, their Canadian landlord, undergo the naturalization process (Episode 12, Season 2; Nilles, 2018). Machado and Moreno are recurring actresses in JTV. Machado is Darci Factor, a professional matchmaker and mother of Rogelio De La Vega’s second daughter, and Moreno is Liliana De La Vega, Jane’s “glam-ma.”
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Galarza, L. (2021). Language, Telenovelas, and Citizenship: A Mexican Immigrant’s Exploration of First-Generation American Narratives in Jane The Virgin. In: Banjo, O.O. (eds) Immigrant Generations, Media Representations, and Audiences. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75311-5_12
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