Quinceañeras

  The Quinceañeras exhibit at Spurlock was one of my favorite activities this quarter. It was interesting to learn not only about the art and history of quinceañeras but also the amount of work and effort that was put into the exhibit itself. One of my favorite things about the exhibit was that they made sure to put the Spanish version before the English translation on the labels. I was initially surprised to learn how long it took to cultivate the whole exhibit, but the attention to detail is evident, and every aspect of the display came together to produce a beautiful and informative exhibition. 

One of the points brought up while we were at Spurlock was the representation of quinceañeras in media. Most of my previous knowledge of quinceañeras came from TV shows. One thing that the shows I watched failed to mention was how intricate and long the process of planning quinceañeras is. In the show, The Baker and the Beauty, the main character’s sister Natalie is turning 15, but her parents are unsure whether or not they have the money necessary to give her a quinceañera. They end up canceling it, but another character offers to pay for the whole thing and the event happens. They pulled together an elaborate quinceañera in a few days, but, as mentioned in the exhibit, the planning for a quinceañera can start as early as two years prior to when the event takes place. 

Representation in media was a big discussion topic this semester in our class. We talked about how different races, ethnicities, sexualities, and genders are represented in the media. The video we watched at the exhibit was pretty good at representing different identities and how they relate to quinceañeras. In the shows I have watched, diverse representations of quinceañeras have gotten better. Most shows depict a girl dancing with her boyfriend and then her dad at her quinceañera. The video highlighted how the father-daughter dance won’t always be with a father, and there are many people who often take over that role. More and more shows recently have started depicting different sexualities in quinceañera celebrations. While many of our discussions about representation in the media focused on how shows and movies could do better, I think the practice of quinceañeras is represented nicely. Although there is always more work to be done, quinceañeras are still shown with a lot of attention and care in the media. I'm curious to know what you think the media could do to represent quinnceañeras better.