Summary: The Case Of Selena

I chose to watch Selena. Overall, the movie was really good. I chose it because it looked like a movie I would watch just for fun. I figured if the movie is good then the paper will be easier for me to write. I have also heard a lot about Selena, so the movie tied the pieces of information I already knew together. I feel like I learned a lot about her relationship with her family. She started out singing with her brother and sister in a band their dad made and named Selena y los Dinos (Selena and the Boys). Her brother, A.B., was the bass player, Selena did the lead vocals, and her sister, Suzette, played the drums. They started out playing at a Mexican restaurant their parents owned. However, they gained attention and developed a fan base from that. Eventually, they begin touring around Texas at State Fairs. Selena grows up and her music and style does too. She meets the love of her life, who also happened to be her guitarist. They get married even though Selena’s father did not allow her to see him. She is later killed by the president of her fan club over a paperwork dispute. Her music career is cut short and she died before she got the chance to make her way into mainstream pop music.

Hispanic-American population in the United states is dramatically increasing as a result of immigration patterns and increase birthrate of the ones already residing in the the United States. The movie Selena is an example of Latino family residing in the country who wants to fulfill the “American Dream”. Isolation and discrimination of Hispanic-Americans particularly Mexican family has also been illustrated in the movie. Despite social class stratification, Selena’s family try to breakthrough to the English-speaking audience mainstream to be accepted. In this film, the father is characterized as the head of the family - dominant, strong, aggressive, invulnerable, and superior. Portrayal of tight-knit family values and interdependence is seen in this movie, as well.

The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gomez by John Rechy delves into the life of Amalia Gomez; a Mexican-American woman living in a poor rural area of Hollywood. The structure of her family is falling apart due to conflict between the characters and Amalia’s lack of involvement in their lives. Her youngest son Juan is a male prostitute known as a “maricÓn”, her daughter Gloria is falling dangerously close to following in Amalia’s footsteps, and her oldest son Manny although well intentioned starts to clone his father’s criminal tendencies even though he has no recollections of his father. Amalia’s selective perspective also leads to conflict within herself since she is content not knowing the truth as long as the false reality fits her ideal

Chris Perez wanted to be a rock-star in a Rock n Roll band not a guitar player for a Tejano band. He lived in San Antonio, Texas and was in a band with Shelly Laras, a singer, and she introduced him to Selena y los Dinos. In Huston, Texas Shelly's band was playing at a festival and A.B. Quintanilla, Selena's brother saw Chris playing guitar and liked Chris's guitar skills. During that time Selena y los Dinos was looking for a new guitarist and A.B. gave Chris his number just so Chris can call him if he was interested. Chris called A.B and set up a date to play together in the studio, since that day happened Chris joined los Dinos.

Selena Quintanilla was such an amazing person inside and out more known as the queen of tejano music. She won the hearts of many people young and old in the little time she was here on earth. Blessing many people with her contagious smile, and positive upbeat attitude. Selena has always had where to pull from when it came to being musically talented. Her father Abraham Quintanilla played in a band called Los Dinos which means the boys in Spanish. He had to give his life up as an artist because he got married and had his first kid. Therefore he had to find a better support system for his family. So when he saw that Selena had talent he focused all his goals and dreams on her. Therefore selena had to make a lot of sacrifices and not live a normal childhood.

The movie of my choosing it “Selena”. The movie is about an upcoming Mexican-American singer and clothes designer named Selena. Early in Selena’s childhood she always enjoyed singing and her dream was to perform. Her father Abraham knew that she was vocally gifted. Selena, A.B. Quintanilla and Suzette became a band called Selena y Los Dinos. Selena started singing in small places but she did not get the reaction that she thought she would. Selena was on the verge of giving up but her father Abraham told her that the music industry is never easy and that she would have to work extra hard to prove herself. With words of wisdom Selena strived to achieve nothing but the best. Soon Selena started to get some attention, however Selena’s father Abraham had another idea that could help her career. Considering the fact that Selena was a Mexican-American, her father figure that she should learn the language in order to get to her Hispanic audience. The music industry was dominated by male artist which made it harder for Selena to make her trade mark.

The film Selena uses the themes of discrimination, music, and family to express the struggle Mexican-Americans go through to find and establish their sense of identity. Through the musical career of Selena’s father, we see the difficulty of finding acceptance and establishing an identiity. After having his family, we see the effects his past experiences through his kids. Through Selena’s success, we see the crossing of borders and establishing of new identities.

The worker contacted Daniel Natale who is the father of Julia Jones. The worker started by asking Mr. Natale if he had seen Julia newborn child yet. Mr. Natale stated he hadn’t seen any of his grandchildren since Christmas of 2014. The worker then asked Mr. Natale how many children Mrs. Julia Jones has. Mr. Natale stated “Julia and Marquea have four children together and Marquea has five other children from different relationships. The worker then asked Mr. Natale if he had any concerns for his daughter’s family. Mr. Natale stated “Julia and Marquea are very attentive and they provided a good home for their children they always kept a clean home and had a loving relationship with their children. My main concern is why the children were taken

Being the youngest of the Quintanilla family, Selena Quintanilla was born on April 16, 1971, in Texas. Raised as a Jehovah witness, her musical abilities were evidently noticed by Quintanilla, Jr. at the age of six. She joined a band by the name Selena y Los Dinos, influenced by her elder siblings A. B. Quintanilla. B and Suzette Quintanilla, who were also band members. They often performed in Quintanilla, Jr,’s first Tex-Mex restaurant mid-1980, which was later closed after the recession caused by the 1980s oil gut. Declared bankrupt their family was evicted from their home and settled in Corpus Christi, Texas. At this hard time Selena’s family needed money to survive, prompting them to play at weddings, at quinceaneras street corners and fairs. Her popularity and demand grew resulting to her father’s action of taking her out of school from the eighth grade, despite Marilyns Greer’s, her teacher, disapproval.

1.Describe the main characters of the film: Who are they? What are their motivations? What are their strengths and weaknesses? What are the obstacles they face?

Imagine standing among a crowd of adoring fans cheering on a famous singer that is dancing and twirling on stage. This is what many of Selena Quintanilla fans experienced at her lively concerts. Selena Quintanilla was a Mexican - American singer that was on the verge of stardom before being tragically shot. She inspired many people and was a beloved idol. Selena Quintanilla is an influential person because of her upbringing, her singing legacy, her humanitarian work, and her death.

To help me understand and analyze a different culture, I watched the film Selena. The film tells the life story of the famous singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. Not only does it just tell personal stories from her life, it also gives insight to the Mexican-American culture. Her whole life she lived in the United States, specifically in Texas, but was Hispanic and because of that both her and her family faced more struggles than white singers on the climb to her success. Even though the film is a story about a specific person, it brought understanding into the culture in which she lived. Keeping in mind that these ideas that I drew about the Mexican-American culture is very broad and do not apply to every single person in the culture, there

could you Imagine what it would be like to grow up as a performer in a world that didn’t even except female Tejano singers? Can you imagine how much courage and work it would take to make it to the top? That’s was Selena Quintanilla Perez had to go through. Selena was born in Lake Jackson, Texas on April 6th, 1971 to Abraham and Marcella Quintanilla. Abraham was a shipping clerk for a chemical company and Marcella was a housewife. Abraham being a well respected Mexican musician, who only sang English songs, and had his career ruined because of that. American people didn’t respect him because he was Mexican, and the Mexican people did not respect them because they sang English songs. By the time Selena reached age 10, it became very

Born in Lake Jackson, Texas on April 16, 1971, Selena Quintanilla-Perez would come to be known as the “Queen of Tejano music.” With the help of different sources to provide evidence and support to my argument, the aim of this paper is to examine how Tejana singer, Selena was able to impact those around her with her career as a musician and through the medium of music. Selena rose to success by continuously crossing over to different markets. She not only impacted her fans one by one, but also brought about social and cultural changes by fleshing out tensions between Anglo and Latino communities by bringing people together through music.

In a scene from the film, Selena, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, a Mexican-American singer, is ignored by a white sales woman. The sales woman judges Selena on the color of her skin, determining her social status as one unimportant to her business, not realizing that Selena was actually a celebrity. Just as the sales woman predetermined a role for Selena rooted by race and ethnicity, Waretown High maintained class, gender, and race stereotypes in determining girl’s futures and outcomes. Julie Bettie’s Women Without Class discusses these stereotypes through expectations set for las chicas and the preps by the school, families, and themselves, the exclusion of hard-living students, those whose families were low income, and the ability for some girls to become upwardly mobile as an exception to the rules.