What We’re Watching

I consider la familia one of the most important and confusing parts of being a Latina, so I appreciated the 2021 Latinx movie ‘No One Gets Out Alive’ for navigating this complicated territory inside the classic horror genre. But in the journey of killing off the mother and fighting the pressures of being a good Latina daughter, the movie ends up reinforcing established power dynamics that leaves the Latina with no escape, just death.

There was nothing quite like hearing Ana Morales say, “I am a brown lesbian woman” in the middle of a corporate boardroom in Gentefied’s second season.

Gentefied season two heals Morales’ family trauma. Their triggers bounce around, shared between family members. Their heavy burdens are gently observed.

‘Gentefied’ asks: what does it mean to be part of a culture? It means honoring and defending the people no matter where we fall on the Latinx spectrum.

This Latina Equal Pay Day, we can’t help but think that the size of Latinas’ paystubs is tied to how invisible we are. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Over the years, I’ve noticed television shows being the place where female friendship has flourished on screen. There has been a liberation of new topics and taboos that weren’t ever shown before, giving us more room for representation, and new role models to aspire and relate to.

Netflix’s On My Block is a coming-of-age story; a dramady about a group of friends growing up in South L.A. Navigating their daily struggles for survival, this show blends culture and race with laughs and tears. The final season finds us two years later after our compas have gone their separate ways. It’s senior year, and if you know anything about this show, it’s far from normal.

Let’s celebrate Latina-authored books that are getting adapted for the screen – because these seven are all major wins for Latinas in Hollywood!

Shang-Chi is an absolutely stunning and captivating movie, and it fills my heart with hope for more culturally-encompassing films. But how they portray the character of Xialing, Shang-Chi’s sister reveals there is more work to be done to represent women of color.

To call Brooklyn 99 a “good” cop show isn’t as simple as it seems. After the murder of George Floyd, cops and the shows that portrayed them faced a lot of well-earned scrutiny. Brooklyn 99 was just one of many series to experience an identity crisis during its latest (and for B99, its last) season.