Tony Soprano, narcxploitation & representation.

By Gonzalo López Martí – Creative Director

https://www.LopezMartiMiami.com/

• Italians carved a name for themselves in Hollywood with mobster movies.
• Which they used as showcase of their talent and springboard to move on to other genres with room to play against type.
• Scorsese, Coppola, Pacino, de Niro, etc.
• Irish stars used the same playbook in the 50s: James Cagney, Spencer Tracy.
• Can you imagine James Gandolfini rejecting the Tony Soprano part because “it stereotypes Italians”?
• LOL
• Talk about a professional shot in the foot.
• Well, that’s exactly what Argentine actor Ricardo Darín did in 2004 when director Tony Scott offered him a ton of money to play a drug dealer opposite Denzel Washington.
• Yup, he took offense because he was offered the role of a Hispanic gangster.
• Facepalm.
• Ricardo, for over sixty years now one of the most sought-after professional challenges an actor can aspire to is the villain in a Bond movie.
• Evil characters are the ultimate platform for thespian showboating.
• Playing the bad guy can be a career-defining opportunity.
• Two words: Hannibal Lecter.
• 100% Oscar bait.
• Javier Bardem won an academy award and was catapulted to the Hollywood firmament when he played a ruthless assassin in No Country for Old Men.
• Anyhoo.
• Another way for actors to flaunt their chops is playing the opposite sex.
• Exhibit one: Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Some like it hot.
• Exhibit 2: Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie.
• Which leads us to the latest storm in a teacup.
• “Emilia Pérez”.
• An ward-winning movie, or should I say film, mostly set in the crime underworld of modern-day Mexico but written and directed by a Frenchman who doesn’t speak a word of Spanish and admittedly has never been to said country.
• Did I mention it is a musical?
• Yup, several passages have the cast literally breaking into song and dance.
• “Emilia Pérez” casts a woman who used to be a man, a Mexican American who barely speaks Spanish, a Dominican American and a Venezuelan, among many other non-natives.
• Nex thing you know, hyperventilation ensues*.
• ¡No refleja la realidad mexicana!
• Wait, since when are movies supposed to be documentaries?
• It’s called fiction for a reason.
• DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT expect rigor or plausibility from anything you see on a screen.
• Its only purpose is to help audiences escape the tedium of their existence for an hour or so.
• Through a curious cognitive mechanism called “suspension of disbelief”.
• It’s just fantasy.
• Entertainment.
• Even if it pretends to occur in real life.
• It will NOT teach you anything and it is not supposed to do so.
• STOP EXPECTING REALITY, LET ALONE EDUCATION OR “REPRESENTATION”, FROM MOVIES, TV, STREAMING OR SOCIAL MEDIA.
• Same logic applies to advertising: our sole intention is to separate you from your hard-earned money.
• See, many Hispanics in the entertainment world complain about “representation”, or lack thereof.
• I hear ya.
• Y’all are tired of being pigeonholed as gangsters and drug dealers.
• John Leguizamo whines about this ALL the time.
• However, if one browses the primetime lineup of the main networks and streamers across the Spanish-speaking world, this seems to be EXACTLY the genre the public likes.
• Cartelenovelas.
• Narcxploitation.

*https://x.com/highflyersky/status/1869147072399876376