Well I never thought a would read a scholarly article about Jennifer Lopez’s butt, but that is the beauty of film studies I suppose. But I was excited to read about Selena, a pre-teen favorite movie of mine. What struck me about Negron-Muntaner’s article was the way in which, at that moment of time in 1997, there was excitement about having a Latina superstar and one with a big Puerto-Rican butt. Lopez is one star we have talked about in class so far that I feel I have been old enough and aware of her entire transformation of her stardom, and a big part of her getting there was her butt. From her pride and identification of her Latina behind that Negron-Muntaner traces, to the billion dollar body insurance, to that infamous green dress with the plunging neckline, her body and especially the back of it has always been central to her stardom. This positive outlook on J.Lo’s assets seems strange looking back because she, like so many stars in her position, seems to really have been “white-washed” or “de-ethnic-ized.” Sure she still has that butt to some degree, but she has gone from curvy to the more over-exercised, over-dieted look perfected by mainstream Hollywood. Watching Out of Sight it’s clear how different she looks now, thinner, blonder, and generally less Latina. It reminds me of Michael Jackson, the most extreme example of this pressure on minority superstars, but can also be seen in someone like Beyonce Knowles who has gotten skinnier, blonder, and fairer skinned as her career has risen. To me, in 2008, the celebratory break from dominant standards of beauty by J.Lo’s butt seems to be all but regressed by her later choices in beauty that seemed to hide her ethnicity.
Another interesting aspect, that was reflected throughout her persona, and discussed by both Negron-Muntaner and Ovalle, is the idea of the American Dream as possibility for minorities. There are close ties, certainly not coincidental, between Selena, Lopez, the narratives of films like Flashdance and the video she based it on that film, “I’m Glad.” All of these narratives take characters of mixed ethnicity or nationality from difficult economic situations and watch them rise to fame or fortune from their talent. This is the trajectory that J.Lo follows, a Puerto-Rican American from the Bronx who rose to be one of the top paid actresses in Hollywood. But this narrative is where her career has been since.
So much of her music career is about her roots and their legitimacy – album names On The 6, This is Me…Now, songs “I’m Real,” “I’m Glad,” “My Love Don’t Cost a Thing,” and “Jenny From the Block.” The first one is all about how she is so real and takes place in a low income neighborhood with many of the typical iconography associated with it, then the last is all about how she has so much money, and shows her on yachts with Ben Affleck (but is still “real”?) It seems like one who really was true their roots would not have to keep assuring everyone that they were.
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After our discussion and readings about Jennifer, I want to know if there is any scholarly analysis of Beyonce's butt and hips. One of Destiny's Child's song is called Bootylicious for crying out loud. I find it interesting that there is so much facination with this ethnic women's asses. I feel like if a white woman or even an Asian woman had an ass like theirs and showed it off, every fan magazine would talk about how fat they had gotten and Jenny Craig would be calling them. I am not trying to make that sound mean, but even Scarlett Johansson who is "curvy" has nothing on Jennifer and Beyonce. One of the articles talked about the fact that they are minorities makes it an outlet for excess but is that just for blacks and Hispanics?
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