Spanish? Latino? All the same thing?

After having found stereotypes of Americans in Spanish media, I tried hard to find stereotypes of Spaniards in American media. Now I am perfectly aware of the stereotypes that exist in America about Spain, but the trouble I've been having has been finding proof of that in the media. I know that many people only think about siesta, paella, bull fighting and flamenco when they think of Spain and although this is an aspect of life in Spain, it is not what all of Spain is about. However there is another stereotype I've begun to notice not necessarily in American media, but in American perceptions altogether.

For some odd reason, when Americans hear "Spanish person," only one image comes to mind. A lot of the times Americans believe that Spanish people includes anyone and everyone who speaks Spanish. This encompasses everyone in Central and South Americas as well as the Spanish in Spain. However when they describe them, they all carry the same look, which is olive skin and black hair. This is a severe misrepresentation of Spanish citizens, which I've come to realize since coming to Spain. Spain is just as colorful and varied in complexions and looks as New York City. For some reason, perhaps due to ignorance, Americans have a problem with using the term "Spanish" to describe people from Spain, and Latin Americans (Latinos) to describe those from the Americas. They can't be blamed for this, as this distinction is something that is extremely recent, but the misconception has caused Spanish people to sometimes be stereotyped with similar stereotypes that Latino Americans such as Mexicans or Puerto Ricans face.

It was increasingly difficult to find proof of this, but I luckily came upon it this past weekend while in Valencia. One night I stood up late watching Spanish television and found myself watching an old episode of Johnny Bravo in English. In case you don't know, Johnny Bravo is an original television show from Cartoon Network that was extremely popular in the 90's. The episode I watched actually took place in Pamplona and featured Johnny attending a bullfight. Throughout the episode a lot of the stereotypes are brought up. The first and most obvious being the bull fight, but that stereotype is also followed by many other examples: when the Spaniards speak they sound like classic Mexican stereotypical characters speaking with funny accents, at the end of the bullfight all the Spaniards get ready to eat the bull, and most importantly, every single character has dark hair and tanned skin.

Although I know this is a children's cartoon, we still cannot deny that the stereotypes are there. I firmly believe that stereotypes begin when we are children and to see them in a cartoon is sad in my opinion. We shouldn't be stimulating stereotypes; we should be making sure children grow up without judging. Below you'll find a video containing the episode I discussed. Although the video is a little messed up, the stereotypes are still visible.

Callejeros Viajeros & Españoles en el mundo: Nueva York

One of the assignments in class needed us to focus on the stereotypes that we notice appearing in Spanish media about America and vice versa. I've been finding it difficult to find stereotypes of Spaniards in American media, but I feel like that is primarily because we put all Europeans in a bubble so it causes us to have very little stereotypes about the different countries that exist in Europe. However finding stereotypes in Spaniard media has been way easier for me to find. Since I am from New York City, the "capital of the world," I thought I should look for those stereotypes as I figured Spain would be riddled with them. I used the New York City episodes for Callejeros Viajeros & Españoles en el Mundo and although there are a lot of things that came up that are typical of New Yorkers, there were some stereotypes I saw shown that annoyed me.

The one thing that I noticed was that each episode only focused on Manhattan. Yes, I get that Manhattan is one of the better known districts however it is NOT what makes up New York City and is not a great example of what life is like in the rest of the boroughs. Both shows painted NYC with a picture of famous people being everywhere, prices being ridiculously high, grand homes and beautiful city views which could only be applied to about 20% of the people who actually live in the city. If the show took a peek at other boroughs they would be able to see that life isn't that lavish in NYC and some people actually do live in similar situations as other Spaniards. Callejeros Viajeros also made it seem as though Manhattan was divided into "zones" where people from different backgrounds live. Yes, there is Little Italy, Spanish Harlem and Chinatown, where the area is dominated by the specific ethnicity, however there are also many areas where all these different cultures mix and live together. I also noticed that the shows loved to exhibit the "crazies" of NYC and made it seem as though they are all over the city. I can't deny that there are a couple of characters in the subways and streets but one scene of crazy people would have sufficed. I didn't need to see one in each segment of the show.

Another huge stereotype I didn't agree with was claiming that NYC is this ridiculously expensive place. Españoles en el Mundo compared prices of things in NYC with the equivalent price it would be in Euros and although they did show expensive things, it doesn't factor in the exchange rate in which case some of the prices in Spain are actually way more expensive. Also they showed some higher-end prices in NYC, and  I could personally tell you there are many restaurants and stores that have better prices than the stores they showed. I also found it funny that they tried to compare "Menu del dia" prices when that isn't a regular custom in NYC, so of course it would seem more expensive.

The funniest stereotypes I saw however were the Chinese and Black stereotypes. Granted stereotypes are NOT funny and I am against them, but I found it ridiculous how some of them were shown. The Chinese stereotype that made me laugh was when a Spaniard told the hosts that you could eat everything in a Chinese restaurant, even dogs. This made me laugh because it is a long-running joke to say that Chinese restaurants serve cats & dogs, but it isn't true. However the show made it seem as though it was a fact. Also all the time they depicted black people on the shows, they were either dancing around or acting like fools, painting them in a stereotypical image of being loud and obnoxious and not really bothering to show them in any other way.

I could only hope that some of the stereotypes on this show aren't taken in by Spaniards to make them think it is true. That would be disappointing because I feel like it causes them to look for that when they visit NYC. I really want to find Spanish stereotypes in American media now to see if I've encountered any of them while I have been around or to shed light on where those stereotypes have come from.

Acorralados: Survivor with a twist!

I have spoken on this blog about many of the shows I've watched here in Spain mirroring American television in many ways (i.e. El Hormiguero and late night talk shows), and how they also tend to differ. Now most of these differences have been small and I could understand them due to the cultural differences between the U.S. and Spain, but there is one show in particular that I have been watching lately that has caught my attention because of one specific factor about the show that separates it from it's American counterpart.

Acorralados (Corralled), which airs on Telecinco, takes B-list celebrities from very different backgrounds of fame and places them on a farm, where they must partake in normal farmer activities as well as participate in different challenges and eliminations. Similar to other reality show challenge shows (Survivor, Real World vs. Road Rules), each week a member of the group is eliminated and throughout the season different surprises and twists are added in to keep participants on their toes. The show runs very closely in line with Survivor (Supervivientes in Spain), where everyone must live together in an environment where they have been stripped of their luxuries and must work together while at the same time trying to become the winner.

(participants of Acorralados 2011)

Although there is no U.S. equivalent to Acorralados, the farm living factor of the show wasn't what surprised me the most. What I find the most interesting about this show is the inclusion of a debate amongst the contestant's family members which occurs in the Telecinco central studio with Christian Galvez (host of Pasapalabra and Tu Si Que Vales). 

 (studio host Christian Galvez)

This is something that I have never seen done in U.S. television and it threw me off at first, but then my host mom began to explain the reason behind this. Most of the time the show will cut off to the debate after an argument or conflict has occurred on the farm and the family members are there to provide the viewing audience with a rationale behind the contestant's actions. They might also give some background information on why a person might be acting the way they are or Vazquez will simply interview them and certain emotions might result from the family members viewing the contestant in such difficult situations. I think this puts a new spin on the reality show because it adds an emotional aspect to the show that doesn't occur from just watching the competition. If you have a contestant who seems like the villain in the group, having their daughter or husband defend them shows that perhaps the contestant isn't as bad as they are made to seem. It brings the reality aspect closer to home because these family members don't have a stake in the game besides just trying to defend their family (the eliminations are done by the contestants at the farm, not by the viewing audience).

I think this would be a great thing to add to American television, however the main problem with this is that there are very few reality shows in America that utilize celebrities for reality shows. In most situations, the contestants gain fame from participating in competitions and begin the shows as regular people. I believe Spanish audiences are most invested in this family aspect because they know who these people are because they've seen them on television or on the news before hand. If that recruitment strategy was used for other American reality shows, I think it would have a chance although it might come with some difficulties. The closest thing we have to this are "After Shows," which air right after a reality show. However, these "After Shows" usually bring back the contestants to explain a situation rather than have their family members come in to rationalize them. 

I'm looking forward to continuing watching this show and seeing how things play out. Hopefully I'm lucky enough to see how it ends.

Iker Casillas and Sara Carbonero

Our discussion in class about the couple sparked a little bit of interest in what the controversy was surrounding the kiss between soccer start Iker Casillas and one of "the world's sexiest reporters," Sara Carbonero. The two became a popular couple during the 2010 World Cup not because of this kiss, but because of a loss Spain suffered during their game against Sweden. Many English newspapers such as The Time hinted that Sara's presence and commentary at the game distracted Iker and caused him to let the game winning shot pass by him (Iker being a goalie). Spanish newspapers attempted to defend Sara and called the claims outrageous. I find it interesting that these two are capable of maintaining a relationship despite the fact that their jobs consistently cross paths with each other. I personally feel that the kiss the two shared after the national team finally won the World Cup win was both an in-the-moment swell of emotion, but was also Iker's way of getting back at the paper's and showing that his relationship wasn't a distraction like the papers made it seem.

However this incident did make me notice something about Spanish celebrities. It seems that here, reporters and newscasters are their own class of celebrity. Don't get me wrong, in America we do have our handful of famous reporters, but many of these reporters are only famous for that aspect. They don't gain fame from anywhere else or get reported about in tabloids and newspapers. It is also very rare that their personal lives such as who they are dating is focused on heavily but Sara Carbonero is the second Spanish reporter I've heard of who became famous for their reporting, but also became famous due to their relationships. The first was Letizia Ortiz, who although she was already famous due to her career, became even more famous after her marriage to Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso, the Prince of Asturias.
 

American reporters never achieve the same level of fame as the reporters in Spain. I believe this is mainly because of how important current events is in Spanish culture. Although Americans watch the news everyday, in Spain it is more centralized as a part of the daily lifestyle, so much so that families eat dinner and watch the news at the same time. In America, the news is shown right around a child's bedtime and is watched as parents are getting ready to go to bed. Because the news is so important, newscasters became household names, eventually leading to fame.