Selena And La Bamba

Selena & La Bamba
The film Selena, directed by Gregory Nava is a fantastic portrayal of Selena, American singer, songwriter, spokesperson, model, actress, and fashion designer. Selena is known as the queen of Tejano music and to this day she is one of the top selling Latin artists. She started out at the age of ten in her family band Selena y Los Dinos which gave her the confidence to be able to rise to stardom. Growing up Selena only spoke english but later on her father pushed her to learn to sing in spanish which made her music all the more beautiful. Tragically, Selena was murdered by her own friend and manager Yolanda Saldívar On March 31, 1995 over an argument about the theft of money.
In the film they casted the lovely Jennifer

Lopez in role of Selena who really could not have done a better job in such an important role. When Jennifer Lopez acts she really pours her heart in soul into it making the film all the more emotional than it already is. Also, the majority of the cast that they had surrounding Lopez was also in Mi Familia and I think they made a great decision in keeping them together for this film. Along with the cast, the soundtrack to me is what really made the movie. The Producer made the choice of using Selenas really voice and having Lopez lip sing over it rather than having Lopez use her own vocals. It is these little things that make the movie so great and i'm sure that Selena fans were appreciative of this decision.
The film starts off with some background about Selena's father in the past and his band Los Dinos and their struggle in the music business.

The Director then switches scenes to the present with her father buying some old instruments for Selena and her sibling to play. Selena has talented vocals and her sister reluctantly played the drums while her brother played guitar. With this they formed Selena y Los Dinos and they played some small gigs at the family restaurant and also at a small fair. After seeing young Selena and her growth as a singer it switches to future with Selena as an adult in a huge dome stadium packed solid foreshadowing what is to come of Selena. In most of her concerts Selena sports a signature look of wearing pants and only a bra which her fans love although her dad does not support of it. Another thing he didn’t support was Selena’s romance with a guitarist he hired for the band. Her father does not approve of Selena’s choice in dating the guitarist, but they get married anyways. In the ending of the movie Selena's father ends up auditing some money being spent, and finds out that Selena’s manager and best friend may have been stealing from Selena. After being confronted by Selena and her father, the manager murders Selena over the money issue. The director did a great job of captivating the emotions of the tragic murder.
Selena and her music made such a huge impact on everybody and her death really affected the world. She was so influential that the state of Texas even declared her birthday as “Selena Day”. Even thirty years later Selena remains known as the queen of tejano music and that is something that will never

change.
The Film La Bamba directed by Luis Valdez, was based on the story of Chicano rock n roll star Ritchie Valens. Ritchie Valens is a singer who was very influential in chicano rock. His most famous hit was “La Bamba” an adaptation of a Mexican folk song. He was born near Los Angeles and became the first Latino star in rock music. At an early age Ritchie grew up hearing traditional mexican music and around the age of 5 he began learning how to play a variety of different instruments but his focus was on mastering the guitar. He started playing at small shows with his band when he was discovered by Bob Keane around the age of 16. This was when he made his first hit with his new Record deal, “Come on, Let's go”. After releasing “Come on, Let’s go” he then released “Donna” and after learning how to sing in spanish he released “La Bamba”. Sadly, Ritchie Valens died in a plane crash on February 3, 1959 along with Buddy Holly and J.P. richardson.
The film La Bamba begins with a black and white scene with kids outside of school on the playground playing basketball and then the camera focuses on an airplane in the sky which spontaneously explodes overhead the school. This is a nightmare that Ritchie has been constantly having because some of his classmates at the school died from this accident while he was at a funeral. Later in the film we see Ritchie play a couple of shows displaying his guitar skills and great vocals. Ritchie was seen by Bob Keane, also known as Bobbo, who signed him onto Del-fi records. Bob changed Ritchie’s name to Ritchie Valens and helped him produce his greatest hits in the studio.
The most prominent similarity between La Bamba and Selena is the depiction of the everyday struggle and prejudice that latinos/latinas have to go through. In the beginning of Selena we see her father go for an audition with his band Los Dinos and the owner of the club they were auditioning for rejected them simply for the fact that they were mexican. Later in the film Selena is shopping in the mall for a dress. When she is looking at an expensive dress on the Mannequin a white woman who works at the store said that she probably wouldn’t like the dress, insinuating that it was too expensive for a latina to afford. In La Bamba Richard Steven Valenzuela changes his name to Ritchie Valens in order to make himself sound more appealing. Ritchie is also rejected by Donna’s father and is not allowed to see her or even talk to her on the phone because of his chicano background.
Both of the films are also focused on how latinos made it to the top of the music industry. They show how Latinos achieved the American dream with their passion for music. The American dream is the ideal that every U.S. citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. Both of the movies show them before they became famous as working class Mexican families, and their hardships on the way to success in the music industry as Latinos/Latinas. It was very apparent in the films that both Selena and Ritchie were very determined to achieve their goals by putting countless hours of work into their music, and even learning how to sing in spanish. Ritchie did something that hasn’t really been seen before in his time. He mixed together two different cultures and their music into one. By doing this he was able to bring both the American and Mexican culture together bringing together people who may have never connected without Ritchie’s music. Decades later Selena adopted this same style of mixing cultures into her music and it was loved by both Mexican and American cultures.
Both Selena and Ritchie Valens come from strikingly similar backgrounds and made their way through the music industry at a very young age. They are nearly the same except Ritchie is a man and Selena is a woman. One thing that was fascinating to me was the scene in La Bamba that had Ritchie talking to the curandera. A curandera is a healer who uses folk remedies. They are people of knowledge, and have a special connection between the spirit world and the human world. This is where most of their healing abilities come from. One way in which a person becomes a curandera is by having a near-death experience or incurable illness or a rare disease, although there are other ways in which someone can become a curandera. The use of the curandera in La Bamba really helped showcase the unique aspects of Latino culture that many people may be unaware of.