…and what they tell us about America’s view of Latinos in general
There’s no question that Latinos are all over the tube this season, with bigger and better days to come…but just how “integrated” are Latino faces and culture into the American psyche? Sometimes it seems like we’re all rubbing elbows and other body parts in workplaces, movie theaters, and concert venues, as well as in TV casts and crews. And other times the two cultures seem a million miles apart.
With the recent renewal of The Glades for a third season, one strange indicator of that dual identify came to light. There are four different series currently in production that feature Miami as a hometown or home base (there are five, in fact, but Charlie’s Angels is already cancelled and didn’t have much time to define itself). But the views of Miami as a unique place–and the inclusion of Latinos in the foreground or the background–vary wildly on the programs…as wildly as America’s own self-image of Latino life in this country.
In at least one of the series, USA Network’s Burn Notice, Latinos in general and Cubans in particular are virtually invisible. None of the long-term cast, and virtually none of the rotating arc-and-one-season additions, have been Latino. Even the guest stars, extras, and seat-fillers on this show are rarely Latino. It is a strangely glitzy, even glare-y, view of the town, all palm trees and glittering water, and the only Latino faces you see tend to be South American drug kingpins or their minions, as in the one-shot spin-off TV movie starring “Sam Axe” last season, that took place primarily in a cartoon version of Colombia.
The long-lasting CSI: Miami does only marginally better with its portrayal of a multicultural Miami. Yes, Adam Rodriguez and Eva La Rue are still in there pitching, trying to get David Caruso to do something, anything, other than scowl, mutter, and peel off his sunglasses twice an episode, but–like all the CSI shows–the portrayal of the town and its people is oddly flat (just like Las Vegas-the original and New York, the other incarnation), and the number of recurring cast members or plot lines that involve the huge and active Cubano contingent is somewhere between small and zero.
Recently renewed, The Glades, A&E’s Castle-like light mystery, has one of the strongest Latino mixes. Starring Kiele Sanchez and Carlos Gomez, not only are two of the three leads Latinos (one even playing a Latino!), but the city itself shows a more-than-occasional Cuban side, in the locations, the music, the plots, and the in-and-out characters. Here’s a show that moves easily and almost happily from one facet of the region–Miami to the Everglades to everything in between–with an obvious affection for the area, treating it with more interest and respect than either the CBS or USA shows, that often simply use the city as a skyline and an anonymous backdrop.
And then there’s Dexter, still doing its bloody best on Showtime. The Latino culture has been an essential part of that show’s environment and characterizations from the very beginning, with the fiery, intense and absolutely hypnotic work of both David Zayas and Lauren Velez, working together or separately. These are fascinating characters, full of flaws and courage, and absolutely amazing in all their complexity. Add in Jimmy Smits in his season-long appearance as a Miami D.A. who goes (quite literally) bloody nuts, and this season’s inclusion of Edward James Olmos and Aimee Garcia–as well as a constant stream of Latino characters and guest stars, from featured performers to walk-ons–and you’re looking at a show where the Latino facets of Miami and Florida are fully integrated, visually and emotionally rich, and just a little icky. It’s an interesting, not to say disturbing, state of affairs when the most powerful Latino portrayals on all of TV are on a program about a “good serial killer who works for a police department that can’t see him fulfilling his horrific life-mission right under their noses.
Still: really interesting. A Miami where Latinos scarcely exist; another where they pass through barely being noticed, a third where they’re part of the plot and character almost every week, and finally a Miami where Latinos are absolutely interwoven with the fatal and fateful fabric of life…even if that fabric is a little bloody around the edges.
Clearly, Latinos have come a long way on television…but it doesn’t look like the evolution is quite complete. At least not yet.
