Dangerous Curves: Latina Bodies in the Media

With images of Jennifer Lopez's butt and America Ferrera's smile saturating national and global culture, Latina bodies have become an ubiquitous presence. Dangerous Curves traces the visibility of the Latina body in the media and popular culture by analyzing a broad range of popular media including news, media gossip, movies, television news, and online audience discussions.
Isabel Molina-Guzmán maps the ways in which the Latina body is gendered, sexualized, and racialized within the United States media using a series of fascinating case studies. The book examines tabloid headlines about Jennifer Lopez's indomitable sexuality, the contested authenticity of Salma Hayek's portrayal of Frida Kahlo in the movie Frida, and America Ferrera's universally appealing yet racially sublimated Ugly Betty character. Dangerous Curves carves out a mediated terrain where these racially ambiguous but ethnically marked feminine bodies sell everything from haute couture to tabloids.
Through a careful examination of the cultural tensions embedded in the visibility of Latina bodies in United States media culture, Molina-Guzmán paints a nuanced portrait of the media's role in shaping public knowledge about Latina identity and Latinidad, and the ways political and social forces shape media representations.

Author: Isabel Molina-Guzman
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: 02/01/2010
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.85lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9780814757369

Review Citation(s):
Chronicle of Higher Education 03/12/2010 pg. 18
Choice 11/01/2010

About the Author
Molina-Guzman, Isabel: - Isabel Molina-Guzmán is Associate Professor of Communications and Latina/o Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.