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Jorge Mauricio Espinoza, M.A

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Jorge Mauricio Espinoza, M.A Inventing the Latino/a Hero: ‘Legality’ and the Representation of Latino/a Heroic Figures in U.S. Film, Television, and Comics Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Jorge Mauricio Espinoza, M.A. Graduate Program in Spanish and Portuguese The Ohio State University 2015 Dissertation Committee: Ignacio Corona, Advisor Frederick Aldama Guisela Latorre Laura Podalsky Copyright by Mauricio Espinoza 2015 Abstract The heroic narratives appearing in U.S. popular culture have been traditionally dominated by Anglo characters, with limited spaces for the representation of ethnic minorities. When they do appear in these narratives, ethnic minorities typically occupy the roles of subservient sidekicks or stereotyped villains—whose main functions, respectively, are to aid the Anglo hero in his pursuits and to serve as cannon fodder in order to highlight his superiority. While few in number, the presence of ethnic minority heroes in popular culture narratives becomes important for examining and understanding the limitations and possibilities of positive portrayals by and about members of historically marginalized communities in the United States. Inventing the Latino/a Hero explores the historical representation of U.S. Latino/a heroic figures and heroism discourses in film, television, and comics. This study concentrates on hero narratives that directly explore, interrogate, or wrestled with the issue of legality, which is central to the construction of Latino/a heroes and their narratives’ relationship with ideology and power relations. In this regard, I contend that Latino/a heroes either challenge the dominant, often oppressive system of U.S. law as they seek justice for their communities outside the legal apparatus; or operate as normative heroes who uphold and defend the U.S. legal establishment, obtaining their heroic status from such nationalist endeavors. The nature of the hero’s relationship with ii legality has a profound impact on the way the hero is constructed and the type of ideology supported by the narrative. As a framework for studying these texts, I employ theoretical and analytical tools from narratology and social semiotics that address the way heroic narratives engage with ideology through their plots, character construction, and imagery. Using these tools, I show that Latino/a heroes tend to be represented along a spectrum from resistance to Anglo domination and oppression to domestication of their most rebellious traits and cooption of their heroic attributes; that their portrayals range from affirmation and celebration of cultural markers of latinidad to the erasure of such signposts of ethnic difference; and that the representation of Latino/a heroes has significantly increased in the past three decades due, among other factors, to the opening of more spaces for minority portrayals in popular culture as a result of the rise of multiculturalism and the successful efforts of Latino/a artists and auteurs to create more nuanced characters (including females heroes) and to tell their own stories. Despite such progress, stereotypical and unidimensional depictions of Latinos/as still exist today, and their heroic representations are still dominated by heterenormative male characters. iii For Jordan and Kathryn iv Acknowledgments This dissertation is the culmination of a long and winding journey marked by my decision to attend graduate school on a part-time basis while working full-time at The Ohio State University and raising two—not-so-small-now—children. Thanks to my wife, Randi, for her support along this journey; and to our daughters, Jordan and Kathryn, for sharing insightful research time with me watching superhero cartoons and Zorro films. I would also like to thank my advisor, Ignacio Corona, who recruited me into the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and has offered his valuable guidance and support all along the way. Along with Ignacio, the rest of my committee—Frederick Aldama, Guisela Latorre, and Laura Podalsky—aided me tremendously in giving shape to this research project from its convoluted infancy. They are all extraordinary teachers and researchers. Finally, I would like to extend my gratitude to my work supervisors, Randy Nemitz and Suzanne Steel, who encouraged my graduate school adventure and allowed me to have a flexible schedule for attending classes and conferences. Portions of this dissertation were presented at several conferences, including the First International Conference on the Day of the Dead in Miami in 2011 (a paper about El Muerto), the 2012 Film and History Conference in Milwaukee (superheroes of film and TV), and the 2014 MELUS Conference in Oklahoma City (family and heroism). Some of the topics explored in this project have also been published as individuals essays in v Hispanet Journal No. 4 (2011); Post Script: Essays in Film and the Humanities Vol. 33, No. 3 (Summer 2014); Heroines of Comic Books and Literature (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014); and Graphic Borders: Latino Comic Books Past, Present, and Future (University of Texas Press, 2015). vi Vita 1998……………………………………………………….B.A. Journalism/English and Electronic Media Production, Ashland University 2011…………………………………….............................M.A. Latin American Studies, The Ohio State University 2005-present………………………………....................Graduate Student, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, The Ohio State University 2003-present……………………………………………Editor, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, The Ohio State University Publications Espinoza, Mauricio. “The Borderland Construction of Latin American and Latina Heroines in Contemporary Visual Media.” Heroines of Comic Books and Literature: Portrayals in Popular Culture. Eds. Maja Bajac-Carter, Norma Jones and Bob Batchelor. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2014. 81-93. Espinoza, Mauricio. “Latino Advertising, Spanish-Language Media, and the Creation of a Pan-Ethnic Cultural Identity.” We Are What We Sell: How Advertising Shapes American Life… And Always Has. Vol. 2. Eds. Bob Batchelor and Danielle Sarver Coombs. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2014. 70-83. Espinoza, Mauricio. “Latino/a Hero-Making in Robert Rodriguez’s Films: Identity and Ideology.” Post Script: Essays in Film and the Humanities 33.3 (Summer 2004): 73-84. vii Espinoza-Quesada, Mauricio. “From ‘Mother/Land’ to ‘Woman/Nation’: Destabilizing Nation and Gender Structures in the Costa Rican Film El Camino.” Polifonía 1.1 (2012): 93-104. Espinoza-Quesada, Mauricio. “Dawn of the Latino Zombie: Transnationalism, Spirituality, and Postcolonial Struggle in the Comic Book and Film El Muerto.” Hispanet Journal 4 (2011): 1-29. Fields of Study Major Field: Spanish and Portuguese viii Table of Contents Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..... ii Dedication…………………………………………………………………………………………………………... iv Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………………………………… v Vita…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… vii Introduction—The Latino/a Hero as a Sign of Historical and Ideological Struggle…….…. 1 Chapter 1—Guns and Horses: Resistance and Domestication in Latino/a Frontier Hero Narratives…………………………………………………………………………………………………... 69 Chapter 2— Finding Justice Outside the Law: Modern Outlaws, Vigilantes, and the Politics of the Activist Hero…………………………………………………………………….. 140 Chapter 3—On the Border (of Chaos): Aliens, Monsters, Survival, and the Precarious Nature of Legality in Supernatural Hero Narratives……………………………. 193 Chapter 4—Truth, Justice, and the (Anglo) American Way: Law-Enforcement Latino/a Heroes and the Politics of Identity………………………………………………………….. 253 Conclusion—Legality and Latino/a Heroic Representation: Inevitable Linkage?............ 314 References………………………………………………………………………………………………………... 333 ix Introduction—The Latino/a Hero as a Sign of Historical and Ideological Struggle In The Hero in America, a classical work on the subject of U.S. heroism and national ideals first published in 1941, social historian Dixon Wecter declared that “the hero is he whom every American should wish to be” (488). Those were the times of Captain America and the War Word II warrior, of representations that portrayed the American hero almost exclusively as white and male. Seven decades later, as 37% of the U.S. population is comprised of minorities1 and spaces for their own cultural representation have increased, has the American hero changed alongside the country’s significant ethnic, racial, and cultural diversification? Do Americans of color see in this image of the hero the ideal of who they are and who they wish to be? If so, who are these minority heroes, what do they look like, and what purpose(s) do they serve? My dissertation project tackles these and other related questions by analyzing the historical construction of Latino/a heroic figures and heroism discourses in U.S. film, television shows, and comics. In doing so, I am interested in learning more about the cultural and ideological motivations involved in their production and the types of representations that they generate. I expect readers of this study to be able to better understand key issues of representation about and by Latinos/as in U.S. popular culture, as well as the processes of identity-formation involved in and aided by those discourses. I believe that studying the heroes of U.S. Latino/a communities as portrayed in popular culture is significant 1 According to U.S. Census population projections based on 2010 Census
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