As the only daughter in my immediate family, there have been several times I’ve experienced sexism due to my parents’ reinforcement of strict gender roles. “Porque eres una niña” seemed to be their logical response to why I needed to cook and not either one of my two brothers. Even as I’ve gotten older, these gender roles are still cemented in their belief system, particularly when it comes to the concept of marriage and what it means to be a good wife.
One thing I’ve heard time and time again is that not knowing how to cook makes you incompatible for marriage.
The 91st Annual Academy Awards took place Sunday night and this year, it was a night full of glitz, glamour, and, most surprisingly, a lot of Spanish language! (Diego Luna, Javier Bardem, Alfonso Cuarón, and Guillermo del Toro all spoke Spanish during their speeches.)
Heading into the night, many viewed “Roma”, Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón’s artful and semi-autobiographic film, as the Best Picture front-runner and indeed, the film racked up three Oscars. But ultimately, “Roma” lost the Best Picture award to Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book.”
Although The Oscars still woefully under-represent Latinas in almost every category, Netflix’s critical darling, ‘Roma,” has provided a major spotlight for Latinx talent and stories, employing a largely Latinx cast and crew in its production.
Sunday night was a big night for the Latinx community, with Spanish-language film “Roma” amassing three Oscar wins out of a total of 10 nominations. “Roma” wasn’t the only winner for the Latinx community though: Cuban-American director Phil Lord’s animated feature “Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse” won for Best Animated Film. All in all, Latinos walked away with Oscars for Foreign Language Film, Cinematography, Directing, and Animated Film.
Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón, won the Best Director statue for “Roma”, marking the second year in a row that a Latino has won the award after Guillermo del Toro won last year. Cuarón also won the award for Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Language Film–marking the first time Mexico has landed the award out of a total of ten nominations.
Cuarón began his impassioned acceptance speech Best Director first by thanking “Roma”‘s leading ladies, Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira. He then went on to thank the Academy for “recognizing a film centering around an indigenous woman–a character who has historically been relegated to the background in cinema”.
In another win for the Latinx community, “Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse” up-ended animation titan Disney to win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. “Into the Spiderverse” revolves around the story of an Afro-Latino teenager moonlighting as Spiderman who discovers there are multiple versions of Spiderman in parallel universes.
Latino Director Phil Lord touched on the importance of representation in his acceptance speech, saying: “When we hear that a child turns to their parent and says, “[Spiderman] looks like me’ or ‘He speaks Spanish like us’, we feel like we already won”.
Most of the Latinx nominees for the night consisted of “Roma”‘s cast and crew, including Mexican actress Marina de Tavira for Best Supporting Actress, Yalitza Aparicio for Best Leading Actress, producer Gabriela Rodriguez for Best Picture, and set decorator Barbra Enriquez for Achievement in set design.
Yalitza Aparicio’s nomination, especially, was notable, as it was the first time in the Academy’s 90-year history that an Indigenous woman was nominated for Best Actress in a Lead Role.
Although these Latinas didn’t walk away with a gold statue, their presence alone was encouraging enough for the historically under-represented Latinx community.
“It’s possible to speak Spanish at the Oscars now”
The winners and nominees weren’t the only Latinos making a splash at this year’s Academy Awards, however. Oscar-winning Spanish actor Javier Bardem veered into political territory when he presented the award for Best Foreign Language film.
In Spanish, he stated: “There are no borders or walls that can restrain ingenuity and talent,” which many interpreted as a dig aimed at President Trump.
Actor Diego Luna began his introduction of “Roma” by stating, in Spanish: “Ya se puede hablar español en los Oscars. Ya nos abrieron la puerta y no nos vamos a ir”. Translation: “It’s possible to speak Spanish at the Oscars now. They finally opened the door for us, and we’re not going anywhere.”
Spanish-American Chef José Andrés joined Luna in introducing “Roma”and praised the film for shining a spotlight on “all the invisible people in our lives–immigrants and women–who move humanity forward”.
As usual, Latina Twitter users had a lot to say about Hollywood’s biggest night.
Anyone who is a White Supremacist racist is having a hell of a bad night, if watching #Oscar2019.
Just the phrase “#WeSeeYou” says all that needs to be said about the importance of representation.
Some Latinas expressed disappointment that “Roma” was relegated to the “Foreign Film” category when its story transcended such labels:
#Roma deserved more than an award labelled "Best Foreign Language Film". Spanish isn't even an official language here but that movie spoke volumes if you cared to listen. It deserved all the love and more. A fitting response to anyone claiming that movie making is dead or dying. https://t.co/4kWYIsmhCE
He was one of the few actors of the night who dared to make a political statement–and in Spanish, no less!
And of course, Yalitza made us all fall in love with her more when she brought her mom.
The Mexican actress didn’t take home an Oscar last night, but there’s no doubting that her presence in Hollywood has changed the future of its landscape. Last night Mexican-American fans of the newcomer gushed about Aparicio’s role in bucking the light-skinned Latina stereotype that has so long been favored in Spanish-language films and TV shows.
Also, her appearance at the Oscars couldn’t have been more defining. After spending awards season turning heads in a series of dresses by Alberta Ferretti, Miu Miu and Prada, Aparicio took to the red carpet a pale tulle custom Rodarte gown designed specifically for her, the actress stepped out onto the red carpet with her mother at her side.
And finally, Latinas everywhere expressed their joy at hearing Spanish proudly spoken at the Oscars
The importance of normalizing Spanish’s presence in day to day life cannot be overstated–especially during a time when many Latinas are afraid to speak Spanish in public.
As usual, the Oscars were a night to remember. We hope that the Academy continues to support actors, producers and filmmakers of Latinx descent into the future.
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The natural hair movement has generated so much excitement in the past few years, and it has been embraced worldwide. Everywhere you turn these days it seems women are happily saying goodbye to waxing, and hello to beautiful hair everywhere. But this hair trend didn’t come out of anywhere. It’s a feminist revolution that has been gaining momentum steadily.
For centuries women have been openly showing off beautiful forms of hair— whether on their face, arms, pits, or legs, or just letting their natural hair fly free. The old standard of pretty isn’t what it used to be, so it’s amazing to see so many celebs displaying that freedom of hair and giving it the attention it deserves.
Here’s a list of women, from the past and present, who boldly wear their hair proudly.
Salma has always been all about her luscious long locks, which is why she’s been an inspiring hair queen since day one. But it’s her baby hairs that make her look so unique. While other celebs laser off their baby hairs, Salma has always kept hers and they’re so cute!
Bella Thorne is one of those rare celebs that changes her look and always looks flawless regardless of the color of her hair. Lately, however, she’s fully embraced her armpit hair and shows it off proudly.
3. Camila Cabello and her armpit’s five o’clock shadow.
Camila is on top of the world, and she’s not coming down anytime soon. So who has time to shave every second? Not the “Havana” princess. It’s so refreshing to see a young pop artist not paying attention to every form of grooming.
4. Selena Quintanilla, baby hairs, arm hair, and hair everywhere.
Before Selena Quintanilla was sporting the slick updos for the red carpet, she had so much frizzy big hair everywhere. There’s no hiding that the Tejano singer had arm hair, poofy hair, and baby hairs for days, which is why she’s been an inspiration to so many Latinas who simply have too much hair.
While Frida is famously known for her unibrow, she’s rarely remembered for being a pioneer of the female ‘stache. The Mexican artist wore that mustache like no big thing, and it was almost like one of her gaudy accessories.
6. Karina Ortiz and her beautiful curls and brows.
The “Orange Is The New Black” star perfectly displays her hair in its natural form or in a beautiful blowout. We love how the Dominican-American actress can easily go back and forth between the two styles. Her full brow is like icing on the cake.
7. Kate Del Castillo big ’80s hair and classic unibrow.
Before the world came to know Mexican actress Kate Del Castillo on Netflix’s “La Reina del Sur”, she was one of the biggest telenovela stars. Her signature look was that stunning unibrow and her big ’80s hair. Though her brows tend to be a lot tamer these days, we sure hope she brings back that classic look.
Michelle Rodriguez has never seemed to care what people have thought about her appearance. She can effortlessly go from t-shirt and jeans to a gorgeous gown in an instant, all the while having full-on armpit hair.
Madonna’s daughter of Cuban-descent is clearly a star in the making. Whether she’s modeling or venturing into music, she’s already a fashion game changer. For Lola, showing off armpit hair is really no big deal. And she’s had quite the inspiration from the start in her own mother who has sported a full pit throughout her career.
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Mexico’s Golden Age of Cinema had a reigning queen and her name was Maria Felix. The award-winning actress stunned audiences with her talent and her incredible hair. From her full and luscious mane to her signature eyebrows, Felix will forever be a natural hair inspiration.
