My final project for the class is “The Gothic Elements of Selena.” There are many aspects of Selena’s life, death, and the impact she has made that contain gothic elements within them. Many of these gothic elements involve similar ideas that we have discussed throughout the semester, and I think Selena’s life and death encompass many of these themes very well. I first became familiar with the legacy of Selena after watching the biographical film about her when I was quite young. I was immediately drawn to her warm persona and her fun, catchy songs. Selena’s real life was very much like the movie with very little exceptions, so in many ways, Selena’s theatrical life ended in a tragedy that hearkened to her involvement with the industry.
Selena’s life was an exciting ride for herself and her family as she was able to accomplish many significant marks for Mexican-American women everywhere. There were so many different elements throughout her life that added some gothic themes as she was growing up, as she passed away, and as her impact lived on. I think reflecting on Selena’s with an untraditional lens allows us all to examine and recognize specific elements that hurt her or made her stronger. I hope you enjoy this project as much as I enjoyed creating it. Now, allow yourself to immerse and explore the gothic elements in the life and death of Selena Quintanilla Perez.
http://djeffer5.wix.com/selenachicanagothic
(I tried to make it a link but it kept redirecting me to a Time Warner Cable site)
Awesome website! This is a great addition to the vast material that is out there about this singer. I’ve never considered the gothic aspect of her life but after reading our analysis, I can see that there were many aspects of her life and death. I can imagine that the pressure of being Chicana amid a white-centered entertainment business probably affected Selena, despite her strong character and desire to succeed. As you guys mentioned, the music industry can be quite merciless, a cut-throat environment dominated by ambition and thus, a gothic and dark space for a young girl to inhabit. Even after she became famous, I am sure this pressure increased because she was chosen to be the voice of thousands of oppressed Chicanos, she was a cultural and social icon and I am not sure if that was her intention, initially.
I loved the look of the site you’ve created. It is lively but dark, similarly to the culture Selena represented.
Selena has impacted many lives of the Latino and Chicano culture. Her music had a style that would always get you body to move. Her personality was genuine and was known as a loving and inspiring singer. Overall, she strayed away from scandals and was loved by many.
However, years after her death, rumors about having an affair were spilled out to the public.
Something I noticed that was not touched upon this presentation was Yolanda and how her character correlates with the definition of uncanny and abject.
I have linked a video of Yolanda while she is in prison. There she is being interviewed and is announcing to the public about Selena’s alleged affair.
Overall, this rumor stated by Yolanda is very uncanny. Hence, one can conclude that Yolanda can perfectly perceive the definition of abject, for she not only degrades Selena’s image, she also seems unpleasant and miserable in prison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdl3AHIsFXo
I grew up listening to Selena, and I watch the movie any chance that I get. Still, I have never thought of the elements of her life as “gothic” until you have this presentation – thank you for offering this unique perspective!
I wanted to touch upon the last point you made about motels, the feel they give off and the atmosphere they create. As you were explaining how her murder at a motel is an element of the gothic, I was also thinking about “Psycho” and “What You See in the Dark” and the events that take place in the motels in the respective works. What is it about motels that enables us to identify them as elements of the gothic? If you think about it, motels are these mysterious places of uncertainty and ambiguity. They are ever-changing, ever-evolving, and nothing about them stays the same. This is dangerous. You cannot approach something if you do not know what it is. You cannot tame it, you cannot control it, you cannot challenge it, you cannot beat it. I would argue that a motel is the only place where Norman would have been able to get away with the murders he committed; and although the murder in “What You See in the Dark” did not take place in the motel, it seems as if that setting would have been better suited. You see, the other thing about motels is that they are isolated. They are able to exist in a dimension different from our own; and because they are isolated, its potential victims are trapped – they can scream as loud as they’d like, no one would hear. You follow? It seems like the perfect set-up for an episode of The Twilight Zone or Goosebumps or something, right?
Like our classmates above have mentioned, your perspective on Selena’s life was very unique and insightful. Your website and presentation were both very interesting, informative, and also entertaining. As you mentioned, the duality of the Mexican-American and Spanish-English experience can contain gothic elements. Selena, along with so many Mexican-Americans and U.S. Latinos have this experience and it definitely is gothic. As we were learning about the abject and the uncanny, I definitely began to see more correlations between Chican@s and the gothic. With most people of Mexican descent already being mestizo and the either/or/both/neither feelings that can come from that experience, it becomes even more complicated when adding the elements of immigration, nationality, and being American as well. Being Mexican-American can mean being cast away, grotesque, being villainized, and being either/or/both/neither. It is such a complicated experience. Selena’s dad in the movie (played by Edward James Olmos)explains it perfectly when he says, “We have to be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans, both at the same time! It’s exhausting!” You definitely added new layers to this common Mexican-American experience by highlighting Selena’s life, death, and legacy.