Narcomedia

This is a fascinating cultural history of media representations of the War on Drugs. Written in lively and accessible prose, Narcomedia turns passive consumption of film, television, and news into active and critical engagement, persuasively arguing for these media’s political and cultural significance and profound impact on the meanings of Latinidad. ~Camilla Fojas, author of Border Optics: Surveillance Cultures on the US-Mexico Frontier

In this well-researched and thought-provoking study, Jason Ruiz illuminates how the rise of drug trafficking–focused films, TV series, and media texts, from Scarface and Miami Vice to Breaking Bad and Narcos, have been intimately tied to US political rhetoric that has scapegoated Latinas/os as eternal foreigners and threats. A sobering but important exploration of narcomedia and its impact. ~Mary Beltrán, author of Latino TV: A History

Jason Ruiz offers a compelling cultural history of popular media representations of the War on Drugs and the transnational Latinx communities with which it is so often associated. Skillfully reading Latinx presence in/to some of the War on Drugs’ most iconic media texts, Ruiz shines a light on how dominant understandings of Latinidad have informed popular representations of illicit narcotics in the US since the 1980s. Narcomedia’s nuanced analyses of Latinx media representation and its triangular focus on the US, Colombia, and Mexico render it a vital contribution to many fields, including Latinx studies, American studies, cultural studies, Latin American studies, queer studies, and media studies. ~María Elena Cepeda, author of Musical ImagiNation: U.S.-Colombian Identity and the Latin Music Boom

A concentrated, rigorous look at Latinx representations in late-20th- and early-21st-century 'narcomedia,' or 'communication forms that emerge from drug trafficking'...Ruiz’s observations are incisive throughout. He is at his best, though, when directly addressing the 'how' and 'why' behind the production of problematic Latinx representations...Narcomedia itself makes important inroads into paving the path ahead for Latinx representations in US-made film and TV. Ruiz’s book is a fine example of the scholarly vigilance and clarity of thought needed to hold the abidingly white-centric entertainment industry’s feet to the fire in their ongoing representations of Latinx people on-screen. ~Los Angeles Review of Books