Mia Alegría

 I've been holding out on watching the Selena series on Netflix. I felt the idea was strange. We already have the movie, and Jennifer Lopez did such a good job as Selena. I didn't see the point, not to mention that I didn't like the idea of Christian Serratos as Selena (no offense to Christian). But I've finally relented. I was wanting to watch a new show and this was the only thing I could think of. 

The actual show is okay so far. There's not too much extra information we are getting from this series that we didn't already get from the movie. In fact, in some aspects we're getting even less context. I'm only about 3 or 4 episodes in and I will say I like that we are getting the band dynamic more. I think we're also getting Abraham in a more sympathetic light. I know the family has expressed concerns that the movie portrayed Abraham as some sort of fierce tyrant and that was not their intention with the film. So I think they are using this opportunity to give more context to Abraham's words and actions. I appreciate that. 

I still just can't stand Christian as Selena (and to be fair, this is NOT Christian's fault at all, no personal shade on her). Selena was only 23 when she died. That is SO YOUNG. Christian is in her early 30s and she's playing Selena even in her teenage years. I'm sorry but I can clearly tell Christian is in her 30s. It's ridiculous to put an adult woman in a wig and 80s clothes and be like "This is a 15-year-old!" I don't understand why the director and casting director didn't cast a teenage version of Selena. Was it too expensive? I just don't get it.

Also it's really, really hard for any actress to play Selena. I think Jennifer Lopez did such a great job because her natural mannerisms and personality was close to Selena's in many ways. Selena was naturally so optimistic, goofy, bubbly, and happy. It's hard enough to have that personality and come off as genuine (which Selena did). It's even harder to be an actress portraying that type of personality and have the acting come off as genuine. Christian hasn't been able to pull that off - and I really hesitate to say that because again, I don't want to disparage Christian as an actress! It's just a really tough role and I honestly don't think any actress has the chops to pull off such a role right now. And I will go into a bit how Christian just does not look like Selena AT ALL. JLO has some differences to Selena too, but at least there were plenty of similarities where I could get immersed in the movie and believe just for the moment that, "Yeah, this is Selena and her family, and I'm watching this story unfold." I cannot get immersed in this story because I have to constantly remind myself, "Oh yeah, this lady is supposed to be Selena." Her voice, her face, her body, her skin color, her smile, her laugh are NOTHING like Selena's.

It really makes me wonder what happens during these audition processes. Was there really no one else who auditioned who looked closer to Selena? Did they even go out of their way to try to find a talented American actress of Mexican ethnicity who looked more like Selena to play this iconic singer? Or did they hold a general casting call, casted whoever best fit in that one go-around, and call it a day? Did they even try at all?