Wednesday, July 11, 2012

I'm a Nut

Yes, I know this to be true, I am a NUTTER. Here is what I have been thinking about for days and is so annoying me that I am bringing myself to write a post about it.  So, apparently all I need to get over my "writer's block" and I use the word writer very loosely.  As a fully bilingual person (English/Spanish) when I am watching a TV Show or Movie that has a Latin Character and they require this character to speak Spanish and they open their mouths and talk and I go "WHAT?!?" 

How about I have to put subtitles on because I can not understand what the character is saying in Spanish, yeah that bad.

Case in point: Breaking Bad, my goodness do I love this show, really I do, but would it kill them to have someone on staff to correct a few of their crazy Latin offenses?

When they introduced the Fast Food Restaurant "Los Pollos Hermanos" I cringed, it is so grammatically atrocious, it makes no sense in Spanish, but let's move on to Gus Fring. Gus Fring is the owner of Los Pollos Hermanos and is supposed to be a Chilean who lived in Mexico for many years. Don't get me wrong I love GianCarlo Esposito, he is an amazing actor, but he can't speak Spanish, and it's painfully obvious. Unless at some point in the series they state Gus is really from Curacao and secretly speaks Dutch, therefore explaining why his Spanish is so atrocious, it's not working. So when he is sitting there talking to the guys from the Mexican Cartel how come they pretend that they can understand is Spanish?!?

Just so you know that I am not only beating up on Gus, let's move on the Don Eladio, played by Steven Bauer (aka Rocky Echeveria) so I must admit, I love me some Steven Bauer, back in the day he reminded me of my hot ass hubs, he is looking a little worse for wear, but is hands down a good actor. Now, here they cast Steven as Don Eladio, the head of a Mexican Cartel in Juarez. Steven Bauer is Cuban-American and speaks Spanish perfectly, with a Cuban Accent! So when he says "Por FavoL" is is clear he is not Mexican. Steven, I blame you, not the casting director, I will coach you on dialects any time babe!

So, if you are not a Spanish speaker all this sounds like crazy talk....I know, I know, but imagine the TV Show lost, on this show we had characters from Australia, London, Scotland and America (East Coast and a Southerner.) Now imagine you are watching the show and the guy from the South talks like an Australian, the Australian talks with a cockney accent and the Scottish guy has the dialect of a guy from Jersey. Exactly, you would go WTF!

So Hollywood, I beg of you, do your homework, pay attention to detail, I am sure there is no shortage of bilingual actors and with the bilingual population growing exponentially, you should take notice.