Who is Tomas RIOS, a NAVARRETTE from the sophisticate P.C. side? His take on "our" Latino culture
Last edited Sun Sep 20, 2015, 01:11 PM - Edit history (1)
For starters, “Sabado Gigante” (giant Saturday): Variety show, 53 years, host retiring, blah blah. Now comes this free lancer, of the kind the national media has to rely on because of his supposed cultural connection to the news of the day, like how major outlets pick “non traditional” (read, “Repuke”) minority members (CNN.com and Ruben NAVARRETTE) in order to appear original. I couldn’t find any Wiki or other bio on “Tomas RIOS” but what irked me first was his kewl, breezy, dismissing style, and his disdain for “our” Latino culture on blue nose grounds. It’s fine if he’s assimilated totally and left it all behind, but he shouldn’t be featured for some supposed special connection as an expert on Latino culture.
Now, here’s the rub. For me. Here at DU. When I attack this fellow for his attack on Latino popular culture, I am not defending racist/gender/disability stereotypes. I’m coming from an anthropological place. The cultural “worst” he is talking about is burlesque, which is not specific to Latino culture, and *is* present in every culture everywhere. Let’s see what I can think of in U.S. culture: Jack GLEASON and CARSON with their skits with “scantily clad women;” Las Vegas; the wonderful (I’m not being sarcastic) SPRINGER with his stream of all stereotypes; Howard STERN, and whomever/endlessly.
I have put myself on the line in my own little way of braving wingnut racists, calling them out in crowded places to stop their ignorant mocking of whomever, so to-whom-it-might-concern do *not* think of flaming me on my peeve against excessive P.C.-ism.
First, here are some links treating the Sabado Gigante news:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-sabado-gigante-finale-don-francisco-20150919-story.html
http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/17/media/sabado-gigante/index.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/17/sabado-gigante-canceled_n_7087948.html
This is my e-mail to RIOS: The quotes below are the gist of your “The Conflicted Legacy of ‘Sabado Gigante,’ TV’s Longest Running Variety Show.” And a self-hating Latino gist it is. I would have added Ruben NAVARRETTE as your fellow traveler but he hates “White Liberal males” while you apparently hang with the breezy, kewl rigidly P.C. sophisticates. But you two share a snobby dismissiveness in writing style, as when NAVARRETTE referred to John KERRY as “(back when) he was running around the jungle in Vietnam.” You might have taken a more comprehending anthropological view of popular Latino culture instead of latching onto the “worst aspect” of “our” culture. I couldn’t find your roots in Wiki or anywhere, but if you stepped into an ancient Greek or Roman bistro you would find stereotypes targeting all the groups you mention, everywhere worldwide today, and so long as there are humans of all cultures there will be fart jokes. It’s pointless to suggest anything to you, so I’m just thankful I don’t have to relate to whatever you aspire to.
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******MY EXCERPTS OF RIOS’s COLUMN: ******* The world’s longest-running variety show comes to an end .... touchstone for Latinos—and often [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]reflected the worst aspects of our culture[/FONT]. You know how it goes, a married German-Jewish couple escapes the Holocaust by emigrating to Chile, .... that old chestnut. .... unapologetically campy .... the Latino diaspora. .... a cheesy, jingle-laden variety show .... the show’s tendency to mirror [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]the worst aspects[/FONT] of what can be broadly understood as Latino culture. .... always at least one scantily clad woman acting as his personal stage prop. .... a small army of three-quarters naked women cheerily giggled .... the show entrenched [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]the gender norms of many Latino cultures[/FONT] .... playing the stereotypes against them (black or indigenous Latinos) for cheap laughs. No less common were flamboyant gay caricatures and the use of little people in outright demeaning roles .... the show’s end reflects a move within Latino cultures away from such ugly biases, .... all that’s left is to hope that whatever takes its place can be the same sort of cultural touchstone without providing safe harbor to [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]the worst of that culture[/FONT]. ****END EXCERPTS***
(RIOS’s column: )
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/19/the-conflicted-legacy-of-sabado-gigante-tv-s-longest-running-variety-show.html
[font size=5]ADIOS
The Conflicted Legacy of ‘Sabado Gigante,’ TV’s Longest-Running Variety Show[/font]
Tomas Rios
.... Up until 1986, however, Don Francisco and his show were a distinctly Chilean phenomenon. He spoke with a native’s accent and geared his show accordingly, even when it came to politics. An exception came, according to his autobiography, when General Augusto Pinochet seized dictatorial control of Chile in 1973 and demanded Kreutzberger announce his seizure of power on air. Somehow, Kreutzberger convinced Pinochet that it would be inappropriate for a mostly comedic figure to make so serious an announcement.
That brush with politics entrenched Kreutzberger’s practiced centrism and carried him on through the show’s post-1986 rise to cultural primacy with Univision. Sabado Gigante moved from Chile to Miami and began broadcasting not just to Latin America, but to the United States as well. For a sense of how the move worked out, consider that Kreutzberger now lives in a mansion located in Indian Creek Island, Florida, which is every bit as exclusive as it sounds. How a cheesy, jingle-laden variety show became by far the most successful Spanish language television show ever is pretty simple. ....
While Kreutzberger was always front and center on Sabado Gigante, there was almost always at least one scantily clad woman acting as his personal stage prop. At times, most of Kreutzberger’s job was to be his gregarious self in a well-tailored suit while a small army of three-quarters naked women cheerily giggled at a respectable volume in response to his every action. To say the show entrenched the gender norms of many Latino cultures is about the most charitable statement one could make on that front. This can be said without even bringing up Kreutzberger’s habit of groping female audience members and the 1992 sexual harassment suit brought forth by one of the show’s models against him. (The suit was, of course, settled out of court by Kreutzberger.)
The show did no better on race as its large cast of characters almost never featured black or indigenous Latinos and, on the rare occasions it did feature such groups, it was in the context of playing the stereotypes against them for cheap laughs. No less common were flamboyant gay caricatures and the use of little people in outright demeaning roles. Behind the veneer of cheesy camp and harmless fun there was an undeniable tendency to reflect pre-existing biases of Latino culture that marginalized anyone who didn’t quite fit in with the notion of normalcy. ....
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