Latinx: the inclusive and gender non-conforming term that refers to people of Latin American decent.
In order to understand the contradictory nature of Latinx marketing in U.S. media, I will situate Netflix’s "Narcos" within the context of the current anti-Latinx sentiment in the U.S. First, "Narcos" is short for narcotraficante, or drug trafficker. The show tries to accurately depict the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar in Colombia -- as such, this bilingual, 10-episode crime thriller, created by Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro, takes viewers to Colombia, Chile and Miami when the trafficking of cocaine became an extremely profitable business for Pablo Escobar.
“Who profits and benefits from this glorification of narco-terrorism (the smuggling and violence that arises from the trafficking of drugs along the U.S.-Mexican border and throughout Latin America)?”
In the first few episodes, Steven Murphy (a DEA agent) is narrating the show, describing witnessing Miami’s transformation from a paradise city to a coke-fueled wasteland in the late 1970s. Murphy is then sent to Colombia on a U.S. mission to capture and ultimately kill Pablo Escobar. The beginning of S1 also introduces us to a lone trafficker, nicknamed “El Cucaracha,” or The Cockroach.
After a set of Augusto Pinochet's anti-communist followers massacres El Cucaracha’s drug business in Chile, he flees to Colombia where he partners with a young Pablo Escobar. Of course, according to "Narcos," it is the fault of Escobar and other narcotraficantes for the increase smuggling of cocaine into the U.S. domestic homeland. But, the intervention of the U.S. government in Colombia is something that does not come without criticism in the show, as Murphy and many of the other English-speaking characters struggle to intervene in Colombian politics. "Narcos" depicts Escobar’s love life, struggle with the poor, and his political power in Colombia.
However, the point of my article is not to summarize the series, but to ask the question: “Who profits and benefits from this glorification of narco-terrorism (the smuggling and violence that arises from the trafficking of drugs along the U.S.-Mexican border and throughout Latin America)?”
As "Narcos" glorifies the drug war and taps into the profitable nature of Latinx marketing, the dominant narrative of the “drug trafficker” is also currently being utilized to criminalize Latinx populations in the U.S.
Let me break this down.
Most recently, Donald Trump, in his campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential ticket, attempted to increase an anti-Latinx sentiment. Trump has claimed that Latin American governments do not send their best, but instead it is the drug dealers and rapists that cross the U.S.-Mexican border. Additionally, Ann Coulter, in an introduction to a Trump campaign rally in Iowa, humorously advocated for the “Great Wall of Trump,” and proclaimed that live drone strikes at the border would be more than satisfying for her to watch.
This is where the contradicting nature of Latinx marketing in U.S. media exists. Latinx’s are the largest minority group in the country, and we are growing fast (expected to outnumber whites by 2050). Therefore, the market of the future is the Latinx market. As numbers of Latinx immigrants increase, media industries attempt to keep up with our buying power. For example, media industries across the country are attempting to study and analyze what Latinx do and don’t buy, what we watch and don’t watch in order to tap into the explosive growth and unlimited potential of Latinx marketing.
I was frustrated watching 'Narcos' because of how deep this contradiction existed in the show. In the first episode alone almost all the non-white Latinx characters were brutally murdered in death scenes. Also, Wagner Moura (who plays Pablo Escobar) struggles to accurately portray a Colombian accent. Being from Queens, NY, I grew up wanting to speak a Colombian dialect because it was one of the many I felt was most interesting and most distinguishable. When Moura was not able to mimic a Colombian dialect it immediately made me think twice about who the show was for.
Often times, our diversely-complex Latinx stories become homogenized in the media and viewers watch a simplification of of race, class, geography and language in the Latinx communities. The end result of these homogenized productions have more to do with reaching a wide variety of consumers and forget about depicting Latinx 'cultures' and everyday realities to the best of their abilities.
As Junot Diaz said, "speaking as one Latino, caught in the insanity of a toxic political moment and in the insanity of being interpolated by markets," it's hard to watch a T.V. series that does away with the complexity of Latinx issues and instead is superficially critical.
