Latino TV - (Critical Cultural Communication) by Mary Beltrán (Paperback)

About the Book

"This book surveys the history of Latina and Latino depictions, narratives, and authorship in U.S. English-language television since the 1950s, with a focus on the navigations and impact of Latina/o series writers and creators as they have been able to enter the industrial landscape in recent decades. Based on archival research, interviews with dozens of media professionals who worked on or performed in these series, textual analysis of available episodes and promotional materials, and analysis of news media coverage, the chapters examine Latina/o representation in children's television Westerns in the 1950s, in Chicana/o and Puerto Rican activist-led public affairs series in the 1970s, in sitcoms from the 1970s through the 2010s, including many considered "failed," and in Latina and Latino-led series in the 2000s and 2010s on broadcast, cable, and streaming outlets, including George Lopez, Ugly Betty, One Day at a Time, and Vida. These series and their creators and writers are explored in relation to the social and political contexts of these junctures in U.S. and Latina/o history and to the evolving industry with respect to whether Latina/o creatives were allowed entrâee and to the cultural climate for writers and other creative professionals working in television development and production. As such, it also highlights how television has been key to both the marginalization and to the incremental growth of Latina/o cultural citizenship in the United States, as well as how Latina/o creative professionals are gaining numbers and agency within the television industry and are continuing to push to be able to produce and share their stories"--

Book Synopsis

The history of Latina/o participation and representation in American television

Whose stories are told on television? Who are the heroes and heroines, held up as intriguing, lovable, and compelling? Which characters are fully realized, rather than being cardboard villains and sidekicks? And who are our storytellers?

The first-ever account of Latino/a participation and representation in US English-language television, Latino TV: A History offers a sweeping study of key moments of Chicano/a and Latino/a representation and authorship since the 1950s. Drawing on archival research, interviews with dozens of media professionals who worked on or performed in these series, textual analysis of episodes and promotional materials, and analysis of news media coverage, Mary Beltrán examines Latina/o representation in everything from children's television Westerns of the 1950s, Chicana/o and Puerto Rican activist-led public affairs series of the 1970s, and sitcoms that spanned half a century, to Latina and Latino-led series in the 2000s and 2010s on broadcast, cable, and streaming outlets, including George Lopez, Ugly Betty, One Day at a Time, and Vida.

Through the exploration of the histories of Latina/o television narratives and the authors of those narratives, Mary Beltrán sheds important light on how Latina/os have been included--and, more often, not--in the television industry and in the stories of the country writ large.

Review Quotes

"

Mary Beltrán weaves discussions of Mexican-American and Latina/o representation with those
of authorship to produce a compelling and overdue account of how much we truly owe Latina/o
creative professionals. Beautifully researched, this book is mandatory reading for scholars of
race, media, and representation.

"-- "Dolores Inés Casillas, author of Sounds of Belonging: U.S. Spanish-Language Radio and Public Advocacy"

"[Beltrán] expertly unveils the ways in which the economic conditions, the stereotyped assumptions of the audience, and barriers to entry limit and contain Latina/o representation... The strength of Beltrán's research is in the political and cultural contexts that frame how any individual program fits as part of a broader ideological project."-- "Journal of Arizona History"

"Beltrán's Latino TV is an essential contribution to the expanding scholarship on Latina/o/x media and is particularly important for the training of its future scholars."-- "Film Quarterly"

"Mary Beltrán's archival research recovers a history that is essential to understanding the ways in which television culture is always in conversation with the social, political, and economic context in which it is produced. Her insightful analysis shows us why storytelling is ultimately about access to power and the social status of politically marginalized communities in the United States."-- "Isabel Molina-Guzmán, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign"

About the Author

Mary Beltrán is Associate Professor of Radio-Television-Film and affiliate of Mexican American & Latina/o Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of Latina/o Stars in U.S. Eyes: The Making and Meaning of Film and TV Stardom and co-editor of Mixed Race Hollywood.