'Selena' without Selena

The life of the queen of

music

, Selena Quintanilla, provides for several series and films.

Killed in 1995 at the age of 23 at the hands of the president of her fan club, the young singer had a meteoric rise that led her to sell millions of records, create her own clothing brand and be considered the best Latin artist of all times on the Billboard chart of musical hits in the United States.

All these achievements seemed impossible for a Latina girl from Lake Jackson, Texas, who swept through prejudices like a hurricane and gave hope with her career to an entire community.

Her life and death made her a symbol of pop culture among Latinos inside and outside the United States.

The artist's story returns to the screens with the Netflix production,

The Quintanilla family, promoters of the project, have decided to focus on this occasion on the story of their lives rather than on the story of the young singer.

Talent, perseverance and an intense teamwork are the pillars on which the series leans to explain that it was the family that catapulted Selena to stardom of Tejano music, dominated in its majority by men.

Where does the legend begin and where does it end?

It is not known.

Selena's story has been controlled from the beginning by family members who have gone to court if any production escaped their control.

The Quintanilla clan has supervised and exploited the main projects on the singer's life, such as the film that Jennifer López starred in 1997 or the 1995 posthumous album

, among others.

On this occasion, Suzette Quintanilla, sister of the artist and former drummer of the group, is the executive producer of the Netflix series along with her father and brother.

Her powerful voice and daring styles, close to those of Janet Jackson or Paula Abdul, made Selena one of the most important pop icons in Latin culture when

did not yet exist

.

Red lips, large hoop earrings, jeweled tops, and studded jackets became her personal trademark.

Today its products continue to be marketed with the same success as 25 years ago.

In addition to being one of the most successful singers of the 1990s, with over 60 million records sold, her posthumous collaboration with MAC was the best-selling celebrity cosmetic line in history.

The series, which sometimes reaches soap opera overtones with forced dialogues and idyllic family scenes where they are all seen sitting at the table together, focuses on talking about the artist's father and brother, Abraham and AB Quintanilla, played by Ricardo Chavira and Gabriel Chavarría.

The efforts of history are put in demonstrating during nine chapters that they were the true creators of the Selena phenomenon.

Meanwhile, in the background, the young singer - who plays Christian Serratos - is relegated to a secondary character, with few dialogues, more concerned about her clothes and hair color than about the music she sings.

The character of the father shows a serious and controlling man, obsessed with succeeding in music through the group he created with his children: Selena and the Dinos.

Meanwhile, the brother, composer of many of the artist's songs, strives to fervently demonstrate to his father how far he can go as an artist.

Viewers will not find Selena speaking her thoughts, wishes or dreams in her own voice in the new Netflix series.

Quintanilla is portrayed as an obedient, sweet and faithful daughter who always accepted the orders of her father and

willingly

, who did not regret leaving school or not being allowed to go out with her friends when she was a teenager because she had to work .

There is hardly a hint of rebellion against the family when she meets her future husband, guitarist Chris Pérez.

Abraham Quintanilla even kicked Pérez out of the band when he found out about the affair he had with his daughter.

Nor does the character of the patient mother and wife, Marcella Quintanilla, have a great weight, stuck in the kitchen all day and ready to calm her husband's spirits when things do not go well.

The only voice of Selena's own that you will find is the one in the original songs recorded, which brings some realism to the project despite the actress's bleached appearance.

The real Selena was a curvy brown skinned woman.

The meaning of Selena for the Latino community represents the hope of achieving the dreams of any migrant family with effort, sacrifice and dedication.

“As a Latina, Selena represents the American dream of a young woman from humble origins that reflects the aspirations of a generation of young women.

Her image is that of a normal girl, not that of an elite star, ”explains Ed Morales, a professor at Columbia University and author of the book

Deborah Paredez, author of the book

considers the career and the emergence of the artist as an icon within the political and cultural transformations in the United States during the nineties, years that witnessed of a “Latin explosion” in culture and commerce and that was accompanied by a resurgence of anti-immigrant discourse and politics.

Most of the American media have been very critical of the new series and agree on the astonishing absence of Selena in the plot.

"Selena and Quintanilla characters tend to be more general than those in many cable television and broadcast dramas," criticizes

.

"Viewers never get to the bottom of who Selena was, what drove her, or what stopped her, because she is never given the same attention and her character is never as developed as the men who managed her career," notes the

.

“Do we really need another Selena story?

(...) The story that is repeated to us the most is that of a woman who was violently murdered.

This is part of the myth, but it inevitably fuels their exploitation, ”says journalist Alex Zaragoza in

.

In the opening seconds of the Netflix production, Selena performs

, one of her greatest hits, before a packed auditorium.

It seems like the beginning of a great story, but beyond hearing her sing, Selena does not have her own voice in her series.