#textualanalysis

The media is often criticized for their lack of representation and portrayal of members of the Latinx community, but there is a point where the misrepresentation outweighs the lack thereof. Throughout popular television shows, specifically in young adult dramas like Roswell, New Mexico, there is often a character fulfilling the "spicy Latina" trope. This damaging stereotype of a hypersexualized, temperamental Latina women, surpasses the positive connotation of a femme fatale. The poor representation limits the potential of what a Latina character can be. The lack of fluidity is damaging to the developing minds of young girls who see these one-dimensional characters and believe their worth to be their sex appeal. With CW's drama Roswell, New Mexico, the audience is receiving the long awaited variety they deserve. The progressive showrunners have not only created a Hispanic protagonist, Liz Ortecho, but one whose character surpasses her racial identity. Rather than adjusting to the media's "sexy Latina" trope, Roswell, New Mexico leads in the progressive direction by creating a multi-dimensional protagonist and breaking stereotypes to promote better representation. 

According to the media's portrayal, most Latina characters have their defining attributes laid out before any character development or backstory. Debra Merkin presents these traits, "Stereotypical behavioral characteristics assigned to Latinas include ‘‘addictively romantic, sensual, sexual, and even exotically dangerous’’ (Mastro & Behm-Morawitz, 2005, p. 125), self-sacrificing, dependent, powerless, sexually naïve, childlike, pampered, and irresponsible" (Merskin). Some stereotypes include positive interpretations but Merskin strays from any ambiguity that Latina women are given fair representation. Roswell, New Mexico slashes this misconception by revolving Liz's attributes around her occupation as a scientist. Not only does Liz overtly excel at her research and discoveries, but she is constantly credited for her superior intelligence by anyone who knows her.  

Her personality can be characterized as nerdy; alluded to by her unpopularity in high school and socially awkwardness. This differs with that of a "spicy Latina" who is often shown as a failure in school and is excused by her ability to sleep with the right people. Everything she's accumulated job-wise has been credited to her own intellect. Contradicting the sexist and misconceiving trope of "sleeping to the top", Liz never even attempted immorally using her seductive attempts to succeed.  

Though we can applaud Liz's character for her modern persona, other Latinx characters in the show are not represented in the same positive light but rather regress in terms of stereotypes. Liz's sister Rosa is painted as a drub-obsessed teen who is boy-crazy, misbehaves, and spends her free time vandalizing the town of Roswell. These negative qualities all align with the damaging misconceptions about immigrant families living in America. She may not coincide with the harmful "spicy Latina" trope, but her character definitely proves toxic to the Latinx community. 

Th complexity of Liz's character create a positive representation to encourage future diversity for Latinx characters in the media and serves as inspiration for younger audiences. Every little girl should have ample opportunity to find actresses who look like them and align with their culture. But it shouldn't have to end there; there should be a variety of characters who reach success and prosperity through numerous pathways in life. They should see that they can be anything, a doctor, a professor, and now with Roswell, New Mexico, a scientist. 

Latinx representation is something that has been lacking in modern American television. Most Latinx characters are solely there for a supporting role and usually to check a box for diversity. It is unlikely for a show to include a leading cast member that is of Latinx descent, even more rare for multiple leads to be Latinx. Additionally, when these characters are included they are usually reduced to their stereotypes. Especially with female representation of the Latinx community, the women are usually reduced to the “hot Latina”  or “feisty Latina” stereotype. 

In the TV show Roswell, New Mexico they attempt to break these stereotypes with their cast members and storyline. Roswell, New Mexico allows for an abundance of Latinx representation with their leading female protagonist being a Latina and having many recurring Latin characters. 

Roswell, New Mexico surely contains certain stereotypes about the Latinx community, but in doing so are raising against them and proving the falsities behind such stereotypes. There is a clear balance between abiding with the stereotypes and having characters that contradict them. With an influential Latina lead and providing commentary on the stereotypes they present, the show breaks Latinx community stereotypes through the characters’ developments and storylines.

The show does make sure to have their recurring cast include many members of the Latinx community. With Liz, Rosa, Kyle, and other minor characters like Arturo and Steph, there are many important individuals that have their own storylines that include their Latinx heritage.

Using Liz as the lead female protagonist and making her an accomplished biomedical scientist is a large step towards giving Latinas representation in the science field and being individuals who can aspire and achieve great things in their career. Liz even mentions in the show that she wants to be the inspiration to young Latinas that she never had growing up. A big stereotype surrounding Latinas is that they are unable to be career women and are only needed for domestic use. This contradiction with this stereotype is important to emphasize how Latina characters can contribute so much more to a storyline than simply their sass and sexualtiy. 

Another example of breaking stereotypes is with Arturo Ortecho. A very prominent label, especially in areas near the Mexican border, is that illegal immigrants, and immigrants in general, are ruining America and are the worst type of criminals. The show tells us that Arturo is an illegal immigrant and has never applied for citizenship in fear of losing his home and being deported. However, he owns a successful diner, is a hard worker, family man, and cares for everyone around him.

Arturo represents the working class immigrants who left their home, in this case Mexico, in order to try and find a better life with greater opportunity. Even though the show doesn’t make Arturo an uber successful individual, they represent him as a character who pertains to good morals, respect, and determination which contradicts the lazy immigrant stereotype that is seen and believed by many.

Roswell, New Mexico does a great job of including marginalized identities and social groups. Bisexuality and the LGBTQ+ community are thoroughly represented within the show, and it represents different levels of acceptance, pressure, and other societal factors that people within this identity category deal with. 

Although some may point out the couple of perpetuated stereotypes that occasionally appear on the show, it is overall more representative and realistic than most television series we have seen popularized, and more so helps the LGBTQ+ community than harms.

One of the main love stories in Roswell, New Mexico is Michael Guerin and Alex Manes' relationship. This is already important, that the show highlights a romantic relationship that isn't heterosexual.

They met and fell in love in high school, and both came from very traumatic upbringings. Alex Manes' father is a homophobic, abusive military man who abused Alex and always made sure he knew he wouldn’t be accepted in their family if he was gay. 

This relationship represents many people that have to deal with their sexuality being repressed by people they are close to, love, and by others in society. The show emphasizes how Alex was bullied in high school, another common trauma many go through when trying to accept their sexuality. 

Michael was a different perspective on someone within this marginalized group. He accepted himself and Alex, and didn’t make it out to be a horrible thing like many others in their prejudiced town did. 

In “Champagne Supernova” (1×11) Michael says to his brother Max, “We are literally aliens and you’re going to hold me to some outdated binary of sexuality? I’m bisexual, Max. It’s not that complicated.” This quote recognizes the dated ideas society still holds on sexuality, but it can also be seen in a different way. 

Some may say that Michael is implying that they aren’t held to these expectations because they’re aliens, and therefore he’s perpetuating the harmful idea that humans should be held to these societal expectations. However, seeing as the show implements a wide range of humans within the LGBTQ+ community, we can safely assume that’s not what was meant. 

Another way Michael and Alex subvert stereotypical expectations of sexuality is by avoiding the stereotype of feminine aspects in bisexual or gay men. Alex is in the military, and Michael works in a car shop. These jobs both contradict these stereotypes which can be limiting and harmful. 

This stereotype is further examined in McLaughlin and Rodriguez's "Identifying with a Stereotype: The Divergent Effects of Exposure to Homosexual Characters."

McLaughlin and Rodriguez write "Not all homosexual males are effeminate. Nor are they all flamboyant, fashionable, emotional, or hypersexualized. Yet many people are surprised if they discover that someone who does not “seem gay” turns out to be homosexual (Rapp, 2013)."

They discuss this caricaturing that can occur which reinforces harmful stereotypes such as the ones that Roswell, New Mexico avoids with Michael and Alex.

In the television industry it is common for the mentally and physically disabled to be dubbed as the “problem” of the series or someone who slows the other characters down in their own personal journeys. These depictions are harmful to viewers with and even without disabilities by making it seem as though certain types of people are not good enough to be main characters in television. "Viewers may not have a disability themselves, but it does not matter." (Nuwer) In this post, Nuwer describes the magic in connecting with characters in TV shows. Although seeing someone who looks or acts like you in your TV show is exciting, viewers can relate to characters no matter if they have a disability or not. Although stereotypically characters with disabilities are shut down in most ways, in the series “Roswell, New Mexico” the directors and show runners portray multiple different characters with disabilities as not only essential to the show but also capable, strong, and determined individuals.

Alex Manes serves as the best example of mental and physical disability in “Roswell, New Mexico.” Not only did he lose part of his leg in battle and then receive the purple heart for his service, but he also has dealt with an abusive father and psychological trauma from serving in war. Although Manes suffers great loss and humiliation from his father, he remains strong-willed throughout the show and always remains true to himself. He continues his relationship with Michael after his father finds out and even in being a war hero, Manes remains loyal to his friends by protecting the alien race in Roswell. Viewers hear in the first episode Jesse Manes, Alex’s father, say “for the past 70 years, your ancestors and mine have led an operation to protect this town, this entire planet.” (“Pilot”) Alex Manes grew up believing that his purpose in life was to impress his father and do right by his country, however, throughout the show viewers see progression in Alex’s character when he starts sticking up for himself against his father and keeping his friend’s alien secret. Ultimately the directors do an incredible job portraying Alex Mane’s disabilities while keeping him relevant and strong-willed. 

Another important character who struggles with a well-known disability is Rosa Ortecho. Rosa struggles heavily with alcohol and drug abuse as well as anger issues and depression. Rosa seems, at some points, to fall into the stereotypical mentally ill teenager, however, there are big moments where she overcomes her illness and shows others how much meaning she has in the lives of others around her. In season two, episode four, “What If God Was One Of Us?”, viewers see Rose reunite with her father and how meaningful it was to him to see her again. She was his miracle. Not only did this moment prove that Rosa meant more than she knew to her father but it also proved that despite the torment she put both her sister and father through, they still loved her the same and only wanted what was best for her in the end. 

As we see in many instances in our country and in the media, immigrants are often depicted as bad people who shouldn’t be here in this country. It is very common that people put illegal immigrants in a category with drug addicts and drunks as well. In the show Roswell New Mexico however, we get a good look into how the majority of illegal immigrants actually function in America. Constantly throughout the show, we see Arturo Ortecho working hard everyday and doing nothing but pleasing people. And see Liz making ground breaking discoveries to help not just this country but the world. The mainstream image of illegal immigrants is flawed and Roswell New Mexico does a great job revealing that

Oftentimes when the debate over illegal immigrants in America is brought up, the main argument that people who are opposed to allowing them in our country bring up, is that they hurt our country more than they help it. They stereotype them, specifically immigrants from the Mexican border, as people involved with drugs and crime and don't want that associated with this country. However, this is a false stereotype that many people hold and the show Roswell New Mexico does a great job at counteracting. In America today, over 7 million undocumented immigrants are in the workforce, this makes up almsot 5% of Americas total workforce. This shows that undocumented immigrants play crucial roles in our society, more than what is typically percepted of them. In 2018 there were around 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US. In this same year 83,000 of them were arrested. This means that a total of .0075% of the illegal population were not abiding by the law, and falling into the “no good” stereotype placed on many immigrants. This percentage is so tiny which shows this stereotype simply cannot be true, that immigrants don’t deserve to live here and make this country worse.

Latinx representation is something that has been lacking in modern American  television. Most Latinx characters are solely there for a supporting role and usually to check a box for diversity for the show. It is unlikely for a show to include a leading cast member that is of Latinx descent, even more rare for multiple leads to be Latinx. Additionally, when these characters are included they are usually reduced to their stereotypes. Especially with female representation of the Latinx community, the women are usually reduced to the “hot Latina”  or “feisty Latina” stereotype. 

In the TV show Roswell, New Mexico they attempt to break these stereotypes with their cast members and storyline. Roswell, New Mexico allows for an abundance of Latinx representation with their leading female protagonist being a Latina and having many recurring characters that have a latin background. Roswell, New Mexico sirely holds true to certain stereotypes about the Latinx community, but in doing so are raising against them and proving the falsities behind such stereotypes. With having a strong Latina lead and providing commentary on the stereotypes they present, the show breaks Latinx community stereotypes through the characters’ developments and storylines.

The show does make sure to have their recurring cast include many members of the Latinx community. With Liz, Rosa, Kyle, and other minor characters like Arturo and Steph, there are many important characters that have their own storylines that include their Latinx heritage. Using Liz as the lead female protagonist and making her an accomplished biomedical scientist is a large step towards giving Latinas representation in the science field and being individuals who can aspire and achieve great things in their career fields.

Liz even mentions in the show that she wants to be the inspiration to young Latinas that she never had growing up. This breaking of the stereotype is important to emphasize how Latina characters can contribute so much more to a storyline than simply their sass and “hotness”. 

Another example of breaking stereotypes is with Arturo Ortecho. A very prominent stereotype especially in areas near the Mexican border is that illegal immigrants, and immigrants in general, are ruining America and are the worst type of criminals. The show tells us that Arturo is an illegal immigrant and has never applied for citizenship in fear of losing his home and being deported. However, in the show he owns a successful diner, is a hard worker, family man, and cares for everyone around him.

Arturo represents the working class immigrants who left their home, in this case Mexico, in order to try and find a better life with greater opportunity. Even though the show doesn’t make Arturo an uber successful individual, they represent him as a character who pertains to good morals, respect, and determination which contradicts the lazy immigrant stereotype that is seen in many forms of media. 

It is commonly seen on television for a mentally ill character to be pushed aside or portrayed as an outcast. These common depictions in TV reinforce the harmful stereotypes characterizing the mentally disabled as useless. In the series “Roswell, New Mexico” the showrunners and creators typically place those with mental issues at the forefront of main storylines. While at times the show might fall into the stereotypes it is attempting to go against, when compared with most shows “Roswell, New Mexico” does an outstanding job at defining those with mental disorders as more than just mentally ill- but as people too. 

The first prime example is Rosa Ortecho. She is the daughter of illegal immigrants, a drug and alcohol addict, and has anger management issues. She is the epitome of mental issues. There are many points in the series where it seems like Rosa is just a teenager with mental issues who should just be left alone with her drugs and alcohol, thus enforcing the stereotype surrounding those struggling with mental illness: that those with mental issues deal with their problems through drugs and alcohol. At times, it seems as if the writers are setting Rosa up to fall into typical stereotypes of the destitute mentally ill. 

But, there are some key moments where the showrunners and writers of Roswell represent Rosa as something more. At the beginning of season two Liz, Michael, Kyle, and Isobel are all trying to bring Max back to life after he died resurrecting Rosa. In the emotional episode 5, it seems as if everything they did was in vain and Max is going to die. Then comes Rosa who uses her electrical abilities- that stem from her anger issues- and shocks Max’s heart back into rhythm. Rosa, the mentally ill drug addict was the one that saved Max, not either of the two doctors and not either of the two aliens with superpowers. In having Rosa be the hero, it revealed her as being more and not defined by her mental illness. “Roswell, New Mexico '' separates itself from most shows regarding the representation of the mentally ill in part because it shows its audience that those with mental disorders are more than their disorders, and in Rosa’s case they can bring people back from the dead. 

Mimi Deluca is another one of the characters in “Roswell, New Mexico” with mental disorders. Her past and her character are a little more ambiguous because she suffers from dementia. However, it is known that her family, while not aliens, suffered from medical experiments by the U.S. government trying to understand aliens, and that she has, or used to have, a vast knowledge regarding aliens. 

Historically, Latinx characters in television and film have been stereotyped and portrayed in ways which negatively frame their characters and personalities. Some examples of these stereotypes include the “hot latina” stereotype, as well as the drug-trafficking and illegal immigrant stereotypes that have been much more prevalent in recent discussions, due to the current political climate. These stereotypes negatively impact the Lantinx community by creating stigmas and prejudices about them, which can often lead to violence and aggression towards Lantinx people. 

In the CW’s reboot of Roswell, New Mexico, the show runners have put Lantinx characters and issues close to the forefront of their show, with many of the main characters being of hispanic or Latin-American descent. The main example of this is the Ortecho family, with the main protagonist of the show being Liz Ortecho, the oldest daughter in the family. Liz’s father is an illegal immigrant, and his battle against being deported plays a large role in the show as well as Liz’s life and decision making. Despite a high level of representation within the show, the depictions of Lantinx characters and immigrants in Roswell can often conflict between being stereotypical and overplayed, versus progressive.

The most obvious example of this conflict is with Liz’s younger sister Rosa. From the start of the series, Rosa is described by most people in the town as a drunk and drug-abusing girl, who killed two other girls in a car accident. While it is later revealed that Rosa is innocent in terms of killing the other two girls, her drug abuse problems still hold true. In my eyes this is problematic, as one of the main stereotypes that is seen regarding Latinx people, especially immigrants, is that they use or traffic drugs. That being said, the show runners then turn on a dime, as they love to add in small jabs at political figures who promote stricter deportation and border laws, while also adding in storylines, like Liz’s father Arturo almost being deported, which show the struggles of immigrant families.

A second example of this conflicting representation is Noah. Noah is one of the few aliens who survived and escaped the initial crash and overtaking of the military, as he escaped and hid in his pod for years before entering Roswell to be close to Max, Isobel, and Michael. When it is revealed that Noah is an alien, he speaks of his journey from their home planet to earth, comparing the journey and experience in a parallel way to how some people would describe their journey’s as immigrants coming across the southern border, even going as far as to use the term “refugees”, which is the same term used for people coming across the Mexican border. Not to mention that the actor who plays Noah’s character in the show is of Lantin descent, while the actors who play the other three aliens in the show are all white. This portrayal of Noah is conflicting as he is the clear antagonist of season one of the show, committing many horrible acts including the murders of Rosa and the two other girls. This antagonistic description, along with the fact that his character is Latino and a sort of immigrant, creates an antagonistic view of immigrants and refugees, especially those of Latin descent.