The Movie ' Selena '

Overview of the what the film is about (no more than 1 or 2 sentences) and the context of the film (2-3sentences)

Selena Quintanilla was a leader because she dominated the music world and managed to break barriers. She managed to step out of her comfort zone to make a change. She learned a new language to be able to make her dream. She dominated force and made a history in latino music. She was the first female Tejano singer to ever to succeed so much because of her music. After everything she did she opened the doors to other female latin singers and inspired most to push themselves

pop music because other artists had already broken the barrier of this new trend of genre combinations. Selena was making a crossover to dance music similar to Paula Abdul or Madonna.

To help me understand and analyze a different culture, I watched the film Selena. The film tells the life story of the famous singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. Not only does it just tell personal stories from her life, it also gives insight to the Mexican-American culture. Her whole life she lived in the United States, specifically in Texas, but was Hispanic and because of that both her and her family faced more struggles than white singers on the climb to her success. Even though the film is a story about a specific person, it brought understanding into the culture in which she lived. Keeping in mind that these ideas that I drew about the Mexican-American culture is very broad and do not apply to every single person in the culture, there

could you Imagine what it would be like to grow up as a performer in a world that didn’t even except female Tejano singers? Can you imagine how much courage and work it would take to make it to the top? That’s was Selena Quintanilla Perez had to go through. Selena was born in Lake Jackson, Texas on April 6th, 1971 to Abraham and Marcella Quintanilla. Abraham was a shipping clerk for a chemical company and Marcella was a housewife. Abraham being a well respected Mexican musician, who only sang English songs, and had his career ruined because of that. American people didn’t respect him because he was Mexican, and the Mexican people did not respect them because they sang English songs. By the time Selena reached age 10, it became very

First, I will talk about her childhood and how she became famous. Selena Quintanilla was a Mexican singer. According to biography.com she was born on “April 16,1971, in Lake Jackson, Texas.” She was known as the “Queen of Tejano” which is a style of Mexican music such as country. Selena’s first language was English, but her father taught her to sing in Spanish, so she picked up on the language, and became a fluent Spanish speaker. At the age of 10 Selena was the lead singer in her family’s band known as “Selena Y Los Dinos.” They played in weddings and clubs in Texas but it was hard for them because a lot of people think that women can’t get the attention of men singing Tejano music, but she proved them wrong.

In a scene from the film, Selena, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, a Mexican-American singer, is ignored by a white sales woman. The sales woman judges Selena on the color of her skin, determining her social status as one unimportant to her business, not realizing that Selena was actually a celebrity. Just as the sales woman predetermined a role for Selena rooted by race and ethnicity, Waretown High maintained class, gender, and race stereotypes in determining girl’s futures and outcomes. Julie Bettie’s Women Without Class discusses these stereotypes through expectations set for las chicas and the preps by the school, families, and themselves, the exclusion of hard-living students, those whose families were low income, and the ability for some girls to become upwardly mobile as an exception to the rules.

Imagine standing among a crowd of adoring fans cheering on a famous singer that is dancing and twirling on stage. This is what many of Selena Quintanilla fans experienced at her lively concerts. Selena Quintanilla was a Mexican - American singer that was on the verge of stardom before being tragically shot. She inspired many people and was a beloved idol. Selena Quintanilla is an influential person because of her upbringing, her singing legacy, her humanitarian work, and her death.

Hispanic-American population in the United states is dramatically increasing as a result of immigration patterns and increase birthrate of the ones already residing in the the United States. The movie Selena is an example of Latino family residing in the country who wants to fulfill the “American Dream”. Isolation and discrimination of Hispanic-Americans particularly Mexican family has also been illustrated in the movie. Despite social class stratification, Selena’s family try to breakthrough to the English-speaking audience mainstream to be accepted. In this film, the father is characterized as the head of the family - dominant, strong, aggressive, invulnerable, and superior. Portrayal of tight-knit family values and interdependence is seen in this movie, as well.

I chose to watch Selena. Overall, the movie was really good. I chose it because it looked like a movie I would watch just for fun. I figured if the movie is good then the paper will be easier for me to write. I have also heard a lot about Selena, so the movie tied the pieces of information I already knew together. I feel like I learned a lot about her relationship with her family. She started out singing with her brother and sister in a band their dad made and named Selena y los Dinos (Selena and the Boys). Her brother, A.B., was the bass player, Selena did the lead vocals, and her sister, Suzette, played the drums. They started out playing at a Mexican restaurant their parents owned. However, they gained attention and developed a fan base from that. Eventually, they begin touring around Texas at State Fairs. Selena grows up and her music and style does too. She meets the love of her life, who also happened to be her guitarist. They get married even though Selena’s father did not allow her to see him. She is later killed by the president of her fan club over a paperwork dispute. Her music career is cut short and she died before she got the chance to make her way into mainstream pop music.

Q.1. What do you think is the main messages this movie is trying to deliver?

Selena was born and raised in Texas. She grew up speaking English. Her father taught her to sing in Spanish which she learns to speak fluently in. Selena started singing Tejano music being a Mexican descendant you think she would have the support of México. WRONG! Tejano musicians were not welcome in Mexico because it was different from regular Mexican music. Not caring about the risk, it would have on her career Selena did publicly in Mexico, and she won fans over in interviews and performances. Selena connected more with Latino community by donating to charities, performing benefits concerts, hosting fundraisers and donating as much time she could to efforts. Even with her giving back to Latino community her success inspired many Latinos. Many bicultural Latino women and men felt a connection to her cause she manages to do what many Latinos try to do in the US. And, that navigate through two cultures which she successfully did. As you know Selena was Murder by her fan club president Yolanda Saldivar. This shock the whole world and of course the Latino community. Her fans around the mourned her death. “Gone way too soon” is what her younger fans are saying (Rodriguez). She continues to live in the hearts of Latino young or old everywhere. “There haven’t been enough people like in the Latino community, so people continue to turn to her and commemorate her” (Paredez). Even in death, she continues to inspire many Latino musicians and actresses today. For example, Jennifer Lopez who started as Selena herself in the biographical film “Selena” base on Selena life till death. Gave Jennifer a break out acting role and Jennifer even said, "This amazing, beautiful spirit, full of joy and music and so much feeling, just was cut off in the middle of being,” (Lopez). Even though she was taken away from this earth Selena continues to live on and be an inspiration to the

Selena’s talent was distributed to a larger audience and was no longer confined to the walls of the family business when Primo Ledesma, a disc jockey, who hosted a weekly Spanish-language radio show, drifted into Papa Gayo’s for a listen. Lesdema recorded Selena singing, telling her father, Abraham, that “she was going places” (Patoski 42). There were numerous responses and intrigues about the new voice that was played when Ledesma broadcasted the tape on his show the following day. The incident with Ledesma was the beginning of the fame Selena would come to know. After Papa Gayo’s was shut down due to foreclosure, the Quintanilla family went bankrupt as well. This hapless circumstance came to be the initiation of Selena’s musical career: Selena recounts, “Basically, my musical career started when my family went bankrupt, and had to resort to music for money” (Patoski 43-45). The Quintanilla children hit the road, performing throughout southern Texas as Selena y Los Dinos with their father Abraham as their manager. Their venues consisted of weddings, cantinas and honky-tonks, and even when the audience was less than ten people, the group never passed up an opportunity to perform; the family’s means of survival lied in those performances (“Selena”).

It is clear that her fan base is loyal Fans of Selena Quintanilla even after 20 years of her death, still listen to her music, watch her movie and keep her memory alive. It would seem that the majority of her fan base would be Latin women ranging from ages of the early twenties and older but by reading comments on YouTube of various popular songs, it is clear that she had a wide range of fans. Hundreds of comments expressing their love for Selena and her music. Most comments are of people wishing she was still alive and creating music that would hit the top of the charts. Since she had her English album out shortly after her death, it expanded her fan base to an even larger audience. Even her music in Spanish created a large commotion. People on one of her numerous fan pages on Facebook talk about her music being an outlet, an escape from the bad and an extra push to overcome any challenge either with a relationship or simply just with the struggles of life. One fan expressed her mother’s heartbreak on the YouTube video of Dreaming of You, saying that she remembers the day of Selena’s passing and seeing her mother crying in the living room. A fan even going to the extent of saying that her death impacted more people than the death of John F. Kennedy. There are also hundreds of comments of fans wishing she was still alive to make new music and that it would be clear that Selena would be a

Selena Quintanilla was such an amazing person inside and out more known as the queen of tejano music. She won the hearts of many people young and old in the little time she was here on earth. Blessing many people with her contagious smile, and positive upbeat attitude. Selena has always had where to pull from when it came to being musically talented. Her father Abraham Quintanilla played in a band called Los Dinos which means the boys in Spanish. He had to give his life up as an artist because he got married and had his first kid. Therefore he had to find a better support system for his family. So when he saw that Selena had talent he focused all his goals and dreams on her. Therefore selena had to make a lot of sacrifices and not live a normal childhood.