The Rise of the Fake-tinas
You bloody well know who you are! Stop embarassing yourselves!
I remember a friend telling me that she used to pretend to be Puerto Rican when she was growing up in the projects because no one knew what a Seneca was, "And if they had" she assumed "they would have probably nicknamed me Tonto's daughter or Pocahontas." My friend's denial of her culture is not what I am examining here today. I am more interested in the phenomena I (and several of my friends) have dubbed Fake-tinas. Think of all the positives (or seemingly un-negative, since every stereotype is truly a negative) qualities people have associated with Latina/Hispanic women for decades. What some refer to as a "universal exoticness", "sauciness", I suppose is a way of describing their beauty and strength.
I can honestly say, there is no one 'look' to any of my Latina friends.
Pick a country, and I will show you unique beauties abounding. But the bane of cinema and entertainment is that they throw a number of qualities in a hat, if you will, then commercialize them. The general public sees fair/tan complexions; ornate hairdos; aggressively feminine mannerisms; exaggerated hand gestures; and overtly sexy ensembles as Latinas. It is like learning the Cliff's Notes of a culture...you never really get the gist, just some other persons assumed, abbreviated character notes; it's never the whole story.
I began to ask my Latina friends how they felt about Fake-tinas when I lived in South Florida. "I think it's cute!" said one friend from Puerto Rico, "It's like they love us so much they got to mimic us." "I like it, but for a different reason" said my friend from Nicaragua, "it's like a stupid way of embracing the Latin culture and Latinas." "I blame J-Lo!" said another friend who is Jamaican and Cuban, "But she has not played a commercialized stereotypical Latina in any of her films- has she?" I asked. "NOOOO! I mean they all want to be us because of HER!" my friend clarified. We all laughed. I remember my first year of college a friend mentioned to me that if I wanted to date 'Latin Lovers', I should try to learn Spanish "or at least Spanglish" she offered. I once met a guy in a cigar bar in Miami who approached me speaking Spanish (as has often happened due to my stereotypical Latina complexion). when he realized I did not know Spanish because I am not Latina, he said, "Man! I could teach you Spanish and fool everybody!" He was mistaken, he would only be fooling himself and those ignorant of the culture. I have dated plenty of Latino men and still only understand the language, I am horrible at speaking it.
My mother offered that this rise in speakers of Spanglish and adoptors of stereotypical mannerisms and attire may have to do with the burgeoning Latino population. "Maybe they are just trying to relate." My mother, an Espanophile of sorts, fell in love with all things from Spain. She learned fluent Spanish as spoken in Spain; and even learned Flamenco dancing. I once watched her do it on top of a car on New Year's. She had some assuming she was Hispanic (not on purpose!) until she met a Puerto Rican who told her she spoke Spanish funny. Spanish as a language is like Arabic, it is different everywhere, even though are universals.
I have mimicked hairstyles and styles of dress while living in Florida quite by accident- the cultures are infectious in a positive way. The worse case of a Fake-tina I can think of was a girl who lived in Fort Lauderdale who convinced her boyfriend from NY she was Latina. Her name was Christine, but she had people call her Christina. Her family was from INDIA, by what of Barbados. They went to live there with distant family when she was just two years old and she had- since coming to America- dropped her Island accent in favor of a pronounciation she felt sounded like English spoken with a Spanish accent. She spoke Spanglish and hung out with the Latina women at our job. She used to tell me I needed to try to 'belong' by adapting their mannerisms, etc. I am an Ohioan; I cannot be anything else. Her promiscuity was her favorite subject. She cheated on her boyfriend often and thought this added- in some manner- to her being "too too sexy!" like it is assumed all Latinas are. The truth hurts: when she found another job, the Latinas she'd hung out with explained that Christina had labelled me "aburra me" (it bores me), and told them not to talk to me. "But you are so nice and funny!" one woman said, "You do not sound like a "mujerzuela" (slut), like Christina." In her effort to be a sexy, saucy Fake-tina, she had given herself a label that no woman wants in any culture!
I guess if mimickry is the sincerest form of flattery, this is great. It smells too much like prejudging to me.
I remember a friend telling me that she used to pretend to be Puerto Rican when she was growing up in the projects because no one knew what a Seneca was, "And if they had" she assumed "they would have probably nicknamed me Tonto's daughter or Pocahontas." My friend's denial of her culture is not what I am examining here today. I am more interested in the phenomena I (and several of my friends) have dubbed Fake-tinas. Think of all the positives (or seemingly un-negative, since every stereotype is truly a negative) qualities people have associated with Latina/Hispanic women for decades. What some refer to as a "universal exoticness", "sauciness", I suppose is a way of describing their beauty and strength.
I can honestly say, there is no one 'look' to any of my Latina friends.
Pick a country, and I will show you unique beauties abounding. But the bane of cinema and entertainment is that they throw a number of qualities in a hat, if you will, then commercialize them. The general public sees fair/tan complexions; ornate hairdos; aggressively feminine mannerisms; exaggerated hand gestures; and overtly sexy ensembles as Latinas. It is like learning the Cliff's Notes of a culture...you never really get the gist, just some other persons assumed, abbreviated character notes; it's never the whole story.
I began to ask my Latina friends how they felt about Fake-tinas when I lived in South Florida. "I think it's cute!" said one friend from Puerto Rico, "It's like they love us so much they got to mimic us." "I like it, but for a different reason" said my friend from Nicaragua, "it's like a stupid way of embracing the Latin culture and Latinas." "I blame J-Lo!" said another friend who is Jamaican and Cuban, "But she has not played a commercialized stereotypical Latina in any of her films- has she?" I asked. "NOOOO! I mean they all want to be us because of HER!" my friend clarified. We all laughed. I remember my first year of college a friend mentioned to me that if I wanted to date 'Latin Lovers', I should try to learn Spanish "or at least Spanglish" she offered. I once met a guy in a cigar bar in Miami who approached me speaking Spanish (as has often happened due to my stereotypical Latina complexion). when he realized I did not know Spanish because I am not Latina, he said, "Man! I could teach you Spanish and fool everybody!" He was mistaken, he would only be fooling himself and those ignorant of the culture. I have dated plenty of Latino men and still only understand the language, I am horrible at speaking it.
My mother offered that this rise in speakers of Spanglish and adoptors of stereotypical mannerisms and attire may have to do with the burgeoning Latino population. "Maybe they are just trying to relate." My mother, an Espanophile of sorts, fell in love with all things from Spain. She learned fluent Spanish as spoken in Spain; and even learned Flamenco dancing. I once watched her do it on top of a car on New Year's. She had some assuming she was Hispanic (not on purpose!) until she met a Puerto Rican who told her she spoke Spanish funny. Spanish as a language is like Arabic, it is different everywhere, even though are universals.
I have mimicked hairstyles and styles of dress while living in Florida quite by accident- the cultures are infectious in a positive way. The worse case of a Fake-tina I can think of was a girl who lived in Fort Lauderdale who convinced her boyfriend from NY she was Latina. Her name was Christine, but she had people call her Christina. Her family was from INDIA, by what of Barbados. They went to live there with distant family when she was just two years old and she had- since coming to America- dropped her Island accent in favor of a pronounciation she felt sounded like English spoken with a Spanish accent. She spoke Spanglish and hung out with the Latina women at our job. She used to tell me I needed to try to 'belong' by adapting their mannerisms, etc. I am an Ohioan; I cannot be anything else. Her promiscuity was her favorite subject. She cheated on her boyfriend often and thought this added- in some manner- to her being "too too sexy!" like it is assumed all Latinas are. The truth hurts: when she found another job, the Latinas she'd hung out with explained that Christina had labelled me "aburra me" (it bores me), and told them not to talk to me. "But you are so nice and funny!" one woman said, "You do not sound like a "mujerzuela" (slut), like Christina." In her effort to be a sexy, saucy Fake-tina, she had given herself a label that no woman wants in any culture!
I guess if mimickry is the sincerest form of flattery, this is great. It smells too much like prejudging to me.
Labels: Fake People, Latinas, Sterotypes
posted by ScreenGoddessComplex at 12:41 PM
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