October 30, 2005
Working to Change the Hispanic Narrative
By Ruben
Navarrette Jr.
SAN DIEGO
-- Many native-born Americans worry that their jobs are headed
to India or China, that globalization is destroying the working
class, that the country's best days are behind it, and that the
future is filled with doom. Even though theirs is the most powerful
nation in the world, they see themselves as powerless to direct
the course of their own lives.
How depressing.
For a reminder
of just how much hope and opportunity there still is in this country,
sometimes you need to strike up a conversation with an immigrant.
Or you could
just spend a few minutes with Fernando Espuelas, the Uruguayan-born
wunderkind who sees pathways where others see boundaries. In the
1990s, Espuelas made and lost a fortune in the dot-coms when he
launched StarMedia, an Internet portal that provided visitors
with content about Latin America.
Espuelas
bounced back and raised millions of investment dollars to launch
Voy Group, a New York-based media company targeting English-speaking
Hispanics. It includes something that is among the first of its
kind -- a bilingual blog.
The company
also includes a division dedicated to creating television and
film projects, so Espuelas recently moved to Hollywood. It's been
a culture shock -- not just for the media entrepreneur but also,
I imagine, for Hollywood.
For one
thing, Espuelas doesn't understand why so many writers, producers
and directors in the industry continue to cast Latino characters
by falling back on stereotypes -- gardeners and gang members,
maids, and nannies.
Espuelas
wants to produce substantive and uplifting programming filled
with inspirational characters. And he thinks the entertainment
industry is ready for that.
Silly boy.
Would this be the same industry that gave us the hit show, ``Desperate
Housewives," which recently kicked off its second season
with its two main Hispanic characters -- Carlos and Gabrielle
Solis -- spending less time on Wisteria Lane than in Cell Block
C? Last season, much was made of the fact that the Solises were
supposedly the wealthiest couple in the neighborhood. This season,
Carlos is in prison on assault charges, and Gabrielle is busy
angling for the occasional conjugal visit.
Note
to the show's creator, Marc Cherry: We in the Hispanic community
really do appreciate that you thought to include a Hispanic couple
in the series to begin with. And many of us were downright amazed
when you managed not to fall back on Hispanics when the time came
to cast gardeners, maids, or nannies. Way to go! Muy bueno! But
then you went and put Mr. Solis in an orange jump suit.
This is
happening just as ABC, which carries the show, announced that
it would become the first English-language television network
to provide its prime-time programming in Spanish by using dubbing
and subtitles. If the network really wants to reach Hispanic viewers,
maybe what it needs isn't more translations, but better content.
Espuelas
is -- surprise -- more optimistic.
``What I
think has happened is that the country has begun to interpret
Latin themes in positive ways," Espuelas observes.
He has had
some early success with Voy Pictures, the film division of his
media venture, which recently produced and sold a documentary
to HBO/Cinemax Documentary Films. Now the company is working on
a feature film.
Espuelas
admits that prejudice and racism still exist in Hollywood, not
to mention limited perspectives born of the fact that most of
the Hispanics that those in the Hollywood establishment come in
contact with on a daily basis are tending to their kids, trimming
their hedges, or cooking their meals. Espuelas has seen it up
close. Not long after he came West, he and one of his associates
were meeting with an executive at a major studio when the executive
noted that Hispanics were hardworking and offered his gardener
as an example.
I would
have made a scene. Not Espuelas, who tossed the executive a lifeline
by saying that, as a matter of fact, when he was growing up --
as a blond, light-skinned kid in Connecticut -- he too worked
as a gardener. But, he said, he also went to college, and other
opportunities opened up. And that's part of the Hispanic narrative,
the same story he wants to share with the rest of the country
through his television and film projects.
If he succeeds
-- and I wouldn't bet against him -- Hollywood will never be the
same.
©
2005, The San Diego Union-Tribune
