Jane The Virgin Thesis

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When accepting a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, Gina Rodriguez, who plays the main character in the TV show "Jane the Virgin", dedicated her award to "a culture that wants to see themselves as heroes." There are a multitude of different ways to represent immigrants in the media. While news articles tend to dehumanize immigrants and lack realistic representation of immigrants, TV shows and movies are able to give immigrants personalities and stories, without generalizing all immigrants into one category. The TV show "Jane the Virgin" follows the life of Jane Villanueva, a Latina woman living in Miami, and her close relationship with her mother and grandmother. Through the analyzation of episode sixty-one's discussion and call to attention …show more content…

This episode of "Jane the Virgin" tackled the extremely prevalent issue of immigration, a naturally reoccurring theme that all three of the Villanueva women have to deal with, Jane, the main character, Xiomara, Jane's mother, and Alba, Jane's grandmother. One of the most shocking statements said in this episode is said when Alba is working at the gift shop of the hotel she works at. She was doing her job like she normally does when all of a sudden, she witnesses a wealthy, older white women yell at a Spanish-speaking woman and forcefully tell this Hispanic woman, "This is America. You should learn how to speak English" (16:24-16:27). Even though America is made up of a wide variety of different cultures and ethnicities and there is no official language of the United States, this white woman felt the need to yell at this woman for speaking Spanish and it is shocking to know that there are still some Americans that treat immigrants this terribly. Just because this Hispanic woman decided to speak a language that she is comfortable with, even if it is not English, she was discriminated against just because of her ethnicity. Speaking a language other than …show more content…

and are legal citizens, the negative experience that first generation immigrants experience affects them too, especially young children. Alba, even though she has a green card and is legally allowed to live in the U.S., still fears deportation because of the ICE raids. When Jane, her granddaughter, tries to convince her to march for immigration reform with her, Alba tells Jane, "ICE agents, Jane. They are showing up everywhere… They could take away my green card for anything" (17:24-17:34). In response to Trump's ICE raids, this TV show uses it's influence in the media to show the harsh reality for immigrants in the U.S., even legal immigrants. Because of the fear of having her green card taken away and facing deportation, Alba chooses not to march for immigrant reform, even though she feels inspired and tempted to create change. Even people who have studied and worked long and hard to become legal citizens, these innocent people still fear deportation because of the current government system. This sad reality also effects other members of a family, especially young children who do not understand the U.S. government and its leaders. Mateo, Jane's son, asks his parents, "Why do some people not want Bisa in this country" and Jane responds to him by saying, "This country was founded by people who came

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