Blog #3

https://youtu.be/3JPNVHRNCrY

Growing up, I did not often see any representation in media for a young brown girl, with a hybrid identity and didn't speak Spanish too well. And if there was, it wasn't a positive type of representation. It was not until I saw Jane The Virgin. Jane The Virgin was just a brown girl but a brown girl who had dreams of being a published author. These same dreams that I have and were beginning to see as unattainable because there isn't that kind of positive representation in the world. I had begun to be discouraged to be a writer or in the English department because of how white it is. But this show gave me the motivation to continue to pursue my dreams.

Jane The Virgin is more than just a brown girl trying to be a published writer. The show tackles feminist issues as abortion. Also tackling issues that the Latinx community deals with such as sex before marriage and religion and the importance of both as one and separate things. This show, having the mother being a single mom, definitely had me relating to it even more. The show as a cultural artifact affected me by being a show that I could actually relate to. Growing up I never saw a single Latina mom and daughter kind of show. The show also touches on the generational differences in immigrant families. The abuela only speaks to people in Spanish but everyone else speaks to her in English and they all understand each other. This was the exact relationship I had with mi abuelo.

Sure the show is extremely dramatic since it is based of a telenovela but it is so smartly written. Touching on feminist issues, latinx community issues, mental health, LGBTQ storylines and grieving after death. A show that can cover all these issues with a fun romance story line and all the twist and turns of a usual telenovela is extremely impressive.

The show is about to start its last season in the spring and it truly saddens me. Sure the representation I have always wanted is becoming more and more available in media. Some shows such as One Day At A Time and the new revamped show Charmed. But Jane The Virgin has a special space in my heart.