By Michellas Baca
Jenna Ortega is currently one of the biggest names in horror right now, becoming the face of some of the greatest legacy franchises to date. From Scream to The Addams Family and now Beetlejuice, she is the modern Scream Queen, and it is about time we have a Latina Scream Queen! Her role as a mainstream horror icon represents a long cultural relationship with horror all Latinos can relate to and we are here for it!
As Latinos, we have a very deep connection to horror, the supernatural, and religion. It’s a big part of our culture and many of us have a shared experience of being threatened with such things if we behaved poorly. Our caretakers would warn us about El Cucuy if we misbehaved or La Llorna if we were out too late. It's in our nature to fear, yet we love these stories so much since they played a huge part in our childhoods. So, therefore, it’s not crazy to believe that we Latinos make up half of the box office numbers when a new horror movie is released (Rancañco, NPR). So why has it taken us so long to get here?
Well, it’s the Hollywood curse. Latinos have an extensive history with Hollywood, with our earliest depiction in “Pedro Esquivel and Dionicio Gonzales-Mexican Duel” and “Carmencita”; both released in 1894. Both movies set a precedent for Latinos characters in film, feeding into stereotypes, where we are depicted as immigrants, often violent (e.i. Bordertown, 1935) or unaware of the Western world’s workings (i.e. Three Amigos, 1968) and sadly, we aren’t immune to the Hollywood Horror Curse. This curse being our constant depiction as one-off side characters, hoping for a wicked and memorable death. Which is so disappointing when you look at who relates to horror the most.
Horror is known to have the ability to break language barriers, you don’t need words to understand emotions like fear, anxiety and grief; you just need to see it. But I personally think that it’s horror’s ability to heroize ‘The Other’ and in turn, create universal connections. We see famous spooky families like The Munsters and The Addams Family have been doing this for decades. We as outsiders, as “The Other”, can relate to them and the weird looks they get at the grocery store, or at community events. How people gawk and stare at our traditional home decor and personal style. We can see ourselves in these horror icons, which makes Jenna Ortega’s role in all this all the more special.
The unfortunate fact of the matter is that most of the mainstream Scream Queens have all been white; from Fay Wray, Janet Leigh and her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis, Emma Roberts and most recently Mia Goth. Jenna has stepped into a world that hasn’t really tried to make room for her, but she’s doing it anyway. Ortega seemingly has been able to break the Hollywood Horror Curse, going on to star in arguably some of the most influential horror films this decade! Roles in which her characters aren’t even written based on Latino stereotypes (although Wednesday has her moments) but rather simply spooky, the classic Final Girl. When speaking to Harper’s Bazaar last winter about her role as a Latina representative she says, “I want all people of Latin descent to be able to see themselves on screen. I want to feel that I could open doors for other people.” It’s been incredible to watch her rise to horror movie icon, especially being a young Latina myself.
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