Julio torres and the queer potentialities of U.S. Central American representation

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes the cultural work of queer Salvadoran comedian Julio Torres through the Muñozian lens of queer utopian aesthetics and ethnic camp. Through textual and discursive analysis, it establishes how Torres’ comedy disrupts dominant images of male Central American migrants as violent gang members, as well as how Torres creates a space for queer U.S. Central American subjectivities in the Latinx media imaginary. This article also examines Torres’ advocacy work alongside his comedy to consider the extent to which both uphold economic value as central to evaluating the worthiness of immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship. This approach that considers the affordances and limitations of utopian aesthetics illuminates the contradictions in contemporary U.S. Central American representation. I argue that Torres’ cultural work offers glimpses into queerer future U.S. Central American representations and immigration rights discourses that ensure that queer migrant lives are more livable.

KEYWORDS:

• Latinx media studies
• Central American studies
• Latinx representation
• celebrity advocacy
• immigration

Notes

1 In this essay, I use queer as both an identity and term of analysis. I understand queer to be its own identity, as well as to stand in for members of the LGBTQ community. I also use queer as a term of analysis to consider how Torres’ comedy and star persona disrupt the stability of dominant understandings of comedy and Latinx representation.

2 Latinx emerged as a gender fluid term used by LGBTQ activists. Following their political mission, I use it throughout to be inclusive of non-binary Latinxs but use Latino and Latina at times when making gender-specific references.

3 I use potentialities deliberately here. As Muñoz (2009) convincingly notes, potential emits a feeling of hope and “exists or lingers” after a cultural text or performance ends (99).

4 As Hernandez (2016) notes, joteria culture in Hollywood has thus far been defined by the limited presence of queer Latinx characters in mainstream film and television. Further, these representations have often been confined to the politics of coming out.

5 The New American Economy’s core principles can be found at: https://www.newamericaneconomy.org/about/principles/

6 The entire fundraiser is available for view as of March 11, 2021 on the Abrons Art Center Website: https://www.abronsartscenter.org/program/art-is-easy/?

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nathan Rossi

Nathan Rossi is a PhD candidate in media studies at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include Latinx media studies, digital identities, and Central American studies. His work can be found in Latino Studies, Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, and Flow: A Critical Forum on Media and Culture.