the Female Body GOVERNING

Disciplining the Ethnic Body 221
immigrant Maria Sanchez; in U-Turn she portrays a Native American, and
in Out of Sight and The Wedding Planner she plays an Italian American.
The selection of Lopez was highly criticized by Mexican-American
activists who wanted a Mexican-American actress cast in the role of
Selena. The public debate between understanding of Latina identity as
multiplicity and Latina identity as fragmented singularity continues in
the scholarship as exemplifi ed by Aparicio (2003) and Gaspar de Alba
(2003). More recently, the confl ict over the Frida Kahlo biopic highlights
the tension between hybridity/multiplicity and purity/fragmentation
as embodied in the exchange between Lopez as an U.S. Nuyorican
and Hayek as a Mexican woman. Whereas Lopez, whose body and
commodifi ed performances depend on multiplicity, refused to engage
in the discussion over the limits of Latina authenticity, Hayek explicitly
argued that she, as the “true” and pure Mexican, should be the one
to portray Frida’s life. In an interview foregrounding the debate over
authenticity, Hayek (2001) stated:
I don’t believe in the so-called Latino explosion when it comes to
movies. Jennifer Lopez doesn’t have an accent. She grew up in New
York speaking English and not Spanish. Her success is very important
because she represents a different culture, but it doesn’t help me. I
grew up in Mexico, not the U.S., and the fact is that there just aren’t
any parts for Latin actresses. I have to persuade people that my accent
won’t be a problem.
Of course, Hayek’s corporeal formation and cultural identity is itself
complicated. Her father is a Lebanese businessman and her mother is
Spanish, making her barely a fi rst-generation Mexican. Frida herself
was half Mexican, half Hungarian, and decidedly Jewish. 7 Lopez’s
portrayals across racialized and ethnic bodies have productively—if
inadvertently—opened up a Pandora’s box surrounding the question
of corporeal and ethnic authenticity.
Latino Studies interrogates this vexed notion of corporeal authenticity
or purity based on physical phenotype, country of origin, and language.
The fact is that second, third, and fourth generations of Latinas and
Latinos born in the United States have never visited their parents’,
grandparents’ or great-grandparents’ nation of birth. As the U.S. Census
2000 documents Latinas and Latinos identify as both Black and White
and a growing number identify as more than one race. Not all, nor
necessarily most, U.S. Latinas and Latinos can speak Spanish. For
example, Christina Aguilera toyed with the idea of taking the “h” out of
Cristina to more explicitly articulate her Latinidad through a traditional