This month, September 15th to October 15th, is National Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month and the University of Arkansas Museum is celebrating with a series of blogs and social media posts by Latino and Latin American Studies major Emily Snyder about her experiences with Latinx culture.
There are lots of excellent television shows, movies, books, and music created by and centering around Latin American and Latino stories, but it’s hard to know where to start. Here are a few options to explore this National Hispanic and Latino Heritage Month and beyond based on other popular media you might already enjoy!
Television
Do you like drama television series that follow dynamic and complex female protagonists as they navigate life, like Glow (2017-2019) or The Queen’s Gambit (2020)? Try watching Cable Girls (2017-2020) which is a Spanish period drama telling the story of four women working at the National Telephone Company in 1920s Madrid, a time of intense change that greatly impacts their lives in friendship, romance, and work.
Do you like family-centered sitcoms, like Modern Family (2009-2020) or Black-ish (2014-present)? Try watching One Day at a Time (2017-2020), which follows Penelope, an Army veteran, and her Cuban American family, including her two children, mother, and their building manager.
Movies
Do you like political thrillers based on real events, like All the President’s Men (1976) or The Post (2017)? Try watching No (2012) which depicts the story of Rene Saavedra (Gael García Bernal), an advertising executive recruited by those hoping to convince the Chilean people to vote “no” in the 1988 referendum on dictator Augusto Pinochet’s presidency.
If you like award-winning dramas that tell simple but intricate stories, like Moonlight (2016) and Marriage Story (2019)? Try watching Roma (2018), a drama following Cleo, a domestic worker in Mexico City in the 1970s.
Do you like horror centered on returning to a creepy home, like The Haunting of Hill House (2018)? Try watching The Orphanage (2007), which follows a family who returns to the wife’s childhood home in an orphanage to turn it into a home for sick children. However, their adopted son goes missing and is presumed dead, and the wife begins hearing spirits in the house.
Books
Do you like fiction books about young people growing up and experiencing new parts of life, like The Sun is Also a Star or The Perks of Being a Wallflower? Try reading The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, which details the life of Esperanza Cordero, a 12-year-old Chicana girl growing up in Chicago, in multiple vignettes. Also try reading Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz, which tells the story of two Mexican American teenage boys who develop a relationship despite appearing to have nothing in common and learn new things about the world and themselves from each other.
Music
Do you like alt rock and indie bands, like Tame Impala or Vampire Weekend? Try listening to Nudozurdo, a Spanish alternative indie band.
Do you like pop music, like Selena Gomez or Shakira? Try listening to both artists’ Spanish-language music, including Shakira’s 1998 album Donde Estan Los Ladrones and Selena Gomez’s 2021 EP Revelaciόn.