In the third episode of Selena: The Series the titular character, rising Tejano singing star Selena, sits between her two siblings in backseat of her family’s sedan as they travel to Mexico for a concert. In order to pass the time, Selena recounts the tragic love story between two of her father’s relatives. She retells the story in Spanish, with exaggerated movements and impassioned (invented) dialogue. In this scene, a number of narrative threads come together: Selena, born and raised in Corpus Christi, needs to practice Spanish for her growing Spanish-speaking fans that live across the border so, prior to the trip, she ‘teaches’ herself by watching Spanish-language telenovelas (she resorts to this because, her constantly exasperated father Abraham Quintanilla, denies her request that he purchase Berlitz, the learn as you go language program. She can’t really practice her Spanish another way, since he had earlier pulled her out of school because it interfered with her burgeoning singing career). As she sits at home, waiting for her next gig, she watches telenovelas. She is captivated by the exaggerated acting, dramatic storylines and impassioned tones with which the characters speak in the telenovelas.  

Abraham, clearly upset by her dramatic retelling of his relatives love story, commands her to stop. In response to her father admonishing her for her apparent disrespect, Selena responds “Come on, it [the story] does kinda sound like a telenovela”. Not a man to keep quiet, the father pontificates, “except this is not a telenovela. These are real people. Real things happen to real people and they persevere. If this story doesn’t happen, you are never born.”

“The melodramatic narrative mode is not confined to novels and the realm of fiction but rather performs to make complex realities and news events into logical and consumable stories.”

His admonition quiets everyone in the car and Selena proffers a quiet apology, the moment of levity gone. This scene seems to be a moment of unintended metatext: at the same time, he admonishes Selena, he is also reminding the audience to not take the story lightly. Instead of looking at the Selena’s story as one of joy, triumph and yes, ultimately tragedy, we are meant to connect with the morally upright family and the conservative values they embody necessary to cultivate her talent and protect her rise to stardom. In order to do this, I argue, the series relies on traditional standards of melodrama to retell the story of Selena.

Reading Selena within the melodramatic mode helps us understand how her story and person continue to fascinate new generations of fans 20 years after her tragic death. For many, melodrama, as Selena’s scene suggests, dwell on situations of intense pathos, scenarios of emotional excess nearly unmatched in any other form of narrative. Melodrama, like many cultural forms associated with female audiences – intense emotion and high sentiment – is simultaneously omnipresent in television and yet continuously undervalued. I prefer the descriptive power of melodrama as a type, a narrative style, and a cultural mode that provides a narrative structure that makes a strange story feel familiar and, as Matthew Bush suggests facilitates the understanding of artistic and actual events (2014, 15). The melodramatic narrative mode is not confined to novels and the realm of fiction but rather performs to make complex realities and news events into logical and consumable stories. And what better way than melodramatic conventions to make sense of the senseless death of a charismatic singer whose life ended at such a young age?

Since her tragic death, Selena’s life, music and legacy continues to fascinate. The 1997 film “Selena”, directed by Gregory Nava, sanctioned by her family helped construct a version of her life story.  “Corpus: A Home Movie for Selena” (1998) by Lourdes Portillo presents a more introspective study of the mass adulation and explosive posthumous recognition of the singer. Thanks to social media, Nava’s film continues to hold an important place in popular culture among many in the Latinx community; iconic lines from the film like “Anything for Selenas” continue to be used in memes and gifs (indeed, that is the name of the recent podcast that traces the influence Selena has for the narrator and creator, María García). Her now iconic sparkly purple jumpsuit has been recreated by notable social media influencers like Kim Kardashian and actress America Ferrera.  Beyoncé, fellow Texan and cultural icon in her own right, credits Selena as one of her artistic inspirations. Careful curation of Selena’s image by her family (her father, Abraham Quintanilla, is notoriously litigious and intensely protective of legacy) has helped expand her influence to more mainstream audiences. This includes the fan-driven MAC makeup line that was so successful that a second line was launched in 2020.

“Selena: The Series”, then, is another entry in the ever-growing corpus of narratives that shape her legacy. Totaling eight half hour long episodes, the series follows Selena’s rise to stardom. Despite less than positive reviews and critiques of the way that the main character is portrayed, a second season is set to air in May 2021. The episodes are set up as a rags-to-riches tale with Selena as the series’ Cinderella-like heroine. However, the noble, rigidly ethical, scrappy and above all, tightly knit family (ancillary characters and other family members appear abruptly without any real introduction) is at the center of the narrative. The nuclear family unit is headed and ruled over by the ambitious and controlling pater familias; the mother, the few times we see her, embodies a traditional maternal figure.

“Selena is a role model for young girls who also want to rebel but do so harmlessly, and within the confines of family honor and respect.”

While her father is the moral and authoritative center (a characteristic of melodrama), she is the sweet, generous, empathetic young girl who obediently follows the rules (any attempt at rebellion is just that­, a benign attempt­). Her seeming moments of rebellion are sartorial: while the show itself isn’t compelling narratively, the ever-changing outfits and hairstyles that mark the passage of time keep one slightly engaged. Selena appears to be much more concerned with fashion, magazines and of course telenovela-style romance (she practices kissing on a magazine cover) than the daily grind needed to gain fame and fortune. This innocence and talent, the show seems to suggest, must be protected and cultivated in a morally upright manner by a strong male authority figure whose strong voice and harsh realism is tempered by his wife’s gentle touch and maternal presence.

Melodrama embodies a worldview that the universe is inherently moral, and the characters within the melodrama are archetypes that exemplify specific and readily identifiable moral forces. Selena is a role model for young girls who also want to rebel but do so harmlessly, and within the confines of family honor and respect. For example, in a later episode, we are introduced to a secondary character, a teenage girl named Gabriela who works in her family’s restaurant. Gabriela badly wants to go to a Selena concert, but her mother tells her no because she is needed at the restaurant. Gabriela ends up sneaking out but does so with the tacit approval of her more indulgent father. Her small act of defiance seems to speak to Selena’s ability to inspire young girls to seek their dreams, and more importantly, to test the boundaries of, but not challenge family hierarchy.  

The father’s words on the way to the concert in Mexico seem to cast a shadow over the series. In much the same way the father tried to enclose Selena’s effervescence and charisma, the series’ narrative tries to contain audience reactions. Using Abraham Quintanilla’s authoritative and paternalistic voice, “Selena: The Series”, seems to make determined and deliberate overtures toward fans, attempting simultaneously to acknowledge and manipulate a complex affective relationship. The audience is Selena, sitting in the back seat of a stuffy car, wanting to break out but are told to contain and stifle their emotions in order to respect her life. The audience is to treat the narrative and the character reverently; the show is an effort to control the founding myth of Selena, her family and her legacy. 

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