Where is the 'Dominicanness' in MTV’s 'Washington Heights'?

Where is the ‘Dominicanness’ in MTV’s ‘Washington Heights’?

Posted on January 10, 2013 By Julissa Bonfante Entertainment

“Washington Heights.” The show premiered Jan. 9 at 10 p.m. on MTV. (Photo MTV)

Like many of my Dominican friends, we were glued to the premiere of MTV’s Washington Heights last night. The introductory images, the landmarks, the legendary George Washington bridge, got us all sentimental and reminiscing about our childhood. It was our hood—good or bad—and it was the place that shaped me.

I was born and raised there. My circle of close friends are all from Washington Heights—aka Dominican Heights in uptown Manhattan. We all share a special bond similar to the group of friends in the reality series Washington Heights.

This is “one of the true neighborhoods left in Manhattan,” says Jonathan “JP” Perez and “Audubon”—the group’s peacekeeper and the show’s producer—in the introduction, but I was disappointed not to see some of those true and unique aspects of this vibrant community. It was missing the authentic “Dominicanness” that characterizes the neighborhood and that has inspired the likes of Lin-Manuel Miranda. It was not portrayed on the show.

Who has ever eaten pizza and recited poetry when they got together for a party? We didn’t have a Frankie who broke out and started reciting verses in the middle of the sala or living room.

It was too G-rated.

We got a glimpse of some Dominicanness from Jimmy’s grandmother— ese es mi nieto and attributed his baseball skills to her rice, beans and pork chops.

There was no merengue blasting in the streets, dudes hanging out on the corner or the crazy and legendary house parties that usually resulted in some drama or collapsed ceilings. Yes, we used to “Raise the Roof” in those days.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for supporting positive images of Latinos. I’m not advocating for this reality show to turn into the Jersey Shore for Dominicans. We have enough negative portrayals and stereotypes of Latinos in the media and in Hollywood. But I did long for some authentic elements to illustrate our Dominican American culture.

But, perhaps this group of aspiring artists and musicians in Washington Heights reflects a new generation, a portrait of a different neighborhood that is going through a major renaissance. It’s an arts and cultural boom that I didn’t experience. A testament to this burgeoning neighborhood is the emergence of places such as La Casa Azul bookstore, La Marina and North Manhattan Arts Alliance, among others.

The show has to strike a balance to appeal to the mainstream. But can the show be successful without sacrificing that Dominicanness that is synonymous with the neighborhood? Maybe this is just the new Washington Heights and I’m just old school.

Did you see the premiere of ‘Washington Heights’? Tell us what you think about the show in the comments.

MTV’s ‘Washington Heights’

Source: VOXXI Blogs

Anneliese

Agreed. I’m not Dominican, I’m as blanquita as they come, yet when I watched this last night, I’m thinking…”hmmm it couldn’t have changed that much since I lived around there, could it?” While I understand not wanting to turn the show into one big stereotype of Dominicans, you just simply can not have a show about the heights and not show some of the culture in the area. Being that I grew up in the city, I can see what the show is lacking clear as day, but I’m sure the white kids in Illinois are sitting around and scratching their heads saying “ok- soooo it’s basically the hills with Latin accents..”
I keep hearing the kids talking about overcoming their hardships and making it big, but other than the kid with the dad in prison, the show doesnt illustrate any particular hardships.
And as a side note – it irked me when they said taylor was from “the suburbs of Washington heights”…ummm huh? Is that code word for riverdale or inwood? Where are the suburbs of the heights??
All in all – it could’ve been executed a lot better than it was- I can see young women brawling on any reality show nowadays – the show’s got to deliver a little more in my opinion..
- http://twitter.com/JulesBonfante Julissa Bonfante
  
  Thanks for commenting. For sure there is a delicate balance between turning it into a “Jersey Show” for Dominicans and demonstrating the culture – Its “Da Heights” at the end of the day. But its a totally different generation then when I was there. I left the Heights almost 20 years ago so its a whole new world. In my opinion, it missed the mark but let’s give it a chance. It was only the first two episodes….
  - romy
    
    Is television, and we must be entertain and this show is boring, my idea of a good show for us Dominican is exploring the general aspect of our culture. From the one who still struggling to pay his bill to the one who is working and attending collage to the that is only thinking about shopping and spending money at the clubs yes the wild life there is no shame we have crazy Dominicans ..we love it…and is a must …a true mix not every youth in the heights is thinking about poetry and trying to make it..this is the hills with a tan….let romeo and prince Royce co produce this show and we will see a very interesting show I’m sure of that!
kaya

I understand that you guys want to see more culture but remember this is only the first episode. You cant judge them for that when you haven’t even seen all the episodes yet. Also you have to remember that this MTV and it’s reality and the show isn’t going to make it unless they have as much drama and fights as possible. when you watch reality shows none of them are about the culture of the people in the show, so don’t judge it too much or expect a lot of culture because that just doesn’t happen in reality tv.
- http://twitter.com/JulesBonfante Julissa Bonfante
  
  Thanks for your comment. Agreed, I’m going to give it a chance. I want to support it but I wish it had some of those elements that I grew up with. But at the end of the day, its an MTV reality show and there has to be a balance to ensure the show is appealing to the mainstream and that it brings in ratings.
- http://twitter.com/JulesBonfante Julissa Bonfante
  
  Thank you. I’m giving the show a chance and I’m supporting it – its Latinos at the end of the day. I’m not judging them, rather I’m making observations and comments based on my experience growing up uptown.
Emmanuel Abreu

The thing that people seem to not realize is that they are not trying to show what most people are in the heights, they are telling their own stories and the heights is a beautiful backdrop to their lives. They can only tell their stories. I, for one, have experiences like that all the time. I go to parties where people break out the weed and the guitar and start jammin. Other times I’ll be in a room full of middle aged dominicans dancing to 80′s bachata. That’s me though, and they are them. You can’t judge people for the lives that they live and the story they are trying to tell. I think this is a good start on t.v. for us as far as shows go, and if people want to submit to this and expand it, we should all work together on it.

check out my blog post about supporting each other on my website. artbydjboy dot com.

Thanks for this article.
- http://twitter.com/JulesBonfante Julissa Bonfante
  
  You make valid points Emmanuel. Thank you. Please note I’m not judging and I’m trying not to make generalizations. I speak from experience since I was born and raise there but left a very long time ago forever will be Heights and hold it close to my heart. To a certain extent I felt like I survived the Heights and I wish we had the art and culture boom that the neighborhood has now. It was a another era.
Nelson Denis

Ernest Hemingway once wrote “and finally, only the names of places had dignity.” I remembered this as the first two episodes of WH wore on – and the neighborhood shots (streets, parks, buildings, the GW bridge) gave more of an emotional jolt, than anything the characters said or did.
http://Moxibustion.tumblr.com Tenzo

I think most NY’ers over 35 view the show and are like “What is this?” because they remember the Heights as it used to be. This is a new Heights. This is 10 years later and it’s a new generation. Some may see these individuals as “Blanched” or even “Watered down”. But not every human being is the same and just because you hail from DR doesn’t mean you are a loud mouth swinging and hollering from the rooftops.

The Quisqueya culture (as with any culture in America) to me seems over-exaggerated in comparison with culture in the motherland, because when you’re in a foreign environment you tend to become more obsessed and outspoken with your roots. Sometimes individuals even romanticize their homeland (thinking that it is better than it truly was) or try to over-compensate for the fact they are surrounded by other Latinos from other countries as well. So that makes them feel the need to stand out and differentiate themselves as uniquely Dominican.

None of this is thought about on the conscious level but if you research sociology you can find out this is a pretty common feature that repeats in major metropolitan cities worldwide.

However, the individuals in this show seem very cosmopolitan and aware of the world around them. Therefore they are less insecure about something being “unknown”. You can thank the internet for that mostly. Another thing is some of them are 3rd generation so they see themselves more as American with Dominican flavor. However, as the grandparents are still around they still retain what they know to be authentic Dominican cuisine, language and ways of thinking which has clearly been instilled in them from a young age.
- http://twitter.com/JulesBonfante Julissa Bonfante
  
  Thanks for your feedback and insight. I belong to that over 35 New York group (yikes!) and I left the Heights almost 20 years ago when I went off to college, so clearly this as a very different generation and one that is more acculturated than mine. We were very cosmopolitan but at the same time very Dominican.
Lachulita00_

I absolutely love the fact that this show is bringing on all kinds of discussions whether in a positive or negative way…in fact I feel that this is an amazing opportunity for all of the Latin community to share their raw point of views towards how they’d like to be represented as a community or a culture!
As Elvin Garcia mentioned on a discussion over the “Washington Heights” show we’ve been hustling since the early 50′s…and now we are being seen for the first time through a reality show that may or may not expose all or specifically chosen parts of our growth!
I, was born and raised on 144 btwn B’dway-n-Riverside DR back in the 80′s and of course my experience then from what I see on the show now is completely different, hence there’s a huge gap btwn both times; I still believe there’s a sense of soul connection that anyone from the Heights can relate to when watching the show. I’d like to mention that traveling around the World and understanding cultures as I do, I have yet to encounter a Latino which does not display any Art instilled within them, whether from their ancestor or simply something that they have in their being…so with that said I have no doubt that each one of these young minds has a calling for music, poetry, design, etc… because back then I remember the wanna-be-rappers Jamz, the poetry writer, the Harlem School of the Arts Dancer, the Track Runner, the Ball Players (Using the fire-escape latter as the baskets), the Baseball players (using the middle of the ST. as the field), and all of that kept, if not all of all 30 of us or most out of trouble. So to introduce America today with little to non of some or less of our walk through, “OUR HEIGHTS” is to me very special! Sure we are all aware that The Heights was recognized by “Crack City”; it came out on one of the #1 newspaper, but no one knew/knows that there was more to us then/now!!! I say let these young inspiring Artists tell their individual Height story as they know their Heights to be today…After all don’t we all Heighter’s want to share ours as we believe it is to US?! ))
- http://twitter.com/JulesBonfante Julissa Bonfante
  
  Thanks for commenting. I’ve been watching the show and have changed my opinion about it. I remind myself that this is a new Heights, a new generation who is telling their story to the world and I give them a lot of credit for doing so. They are giving America a reason to believe.
  I, like you, believe there a ‘sense of soul connection that anyone from the Heights.’

Opinion Corner

By Julissa Bonfante