Abstract
Only Murders and The Flight-Attendant present Mabel Mora and Megan Briscoe. Latinas have rare opportunities to lead in television. Our thematic analysis sheds light on characters whose non-stereotypical humanness supersedes more common, negative, types and tropes. They are not cantina girls, drug users, or maids. These professional women accidentally become heroines while investigating big secrets. Their paths become different as Mabel flourishes as a sleuth, a la Nancy Drew, while Megan falls into an international crime trap. Larger narratives of these dramedies are driven by murder and travel calamities. The women reveal personal struggles impacted by generational expectations, aging, changing womanhood, and career disillusionment. Their Latina ethnicities are sprinkled, among hues of experiences with family, food and language. They are at different stages. Mabel is a millennial with a fresh art degree. Resonating with millennials today, she is anguished. She tries to define her womanhood, sexuality, and career. Megan is a middle-aged team leader, in an airline industry dominated by young, attractive flight-attendants. She has had a long career, a traditional family. She feels invisible as an older woman, unappreciated. Her experience is symptomatic of a society that prizes youthfulness over aging. Her foray into the spydom is to become a heroine as in detective books. As (anti)heroines, these Latinas expand the repertoire of fictional possibilities of being human. They beckon audiences to rethink what they expect from Latina characters.
Author Information
Mary Helen Millham, University of Hartford, United States
Graciela Quinones-Rodriguez, University of Connecticut, United States
Diana Rios, University of Connecticut, United States
Comments
Powered by WP LinkPress