Language Lessons
The big screen take on Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway smash In The Heights introduces the world to a vibrant community in New York City – but, in aiming to spotlight such a diverse community, there is still learning to be done about the importance of little details: namely in the power of language. Rebecca Carvalho writes on Spanish, Spanglish and more, and turning a window of opportunity into a door.
When you imagine New York City, you might picture a sight of bustling streets in midtown, fifth avenue storefronts or the wide expanse of Central Park. But In the Heights, the blockbuster film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical of the same name, takes us well past 96th street to a part of Manhattan that paints a different picture — one of the Latinx diaspora that reaches every street corner. You’ve got piragüeros (a proxy for an ice cream man, selling shaved ice with fruit-flavored syrups out of colorful carts) reminiscent of Puerto Rico’s historical quarter Viejo San Juan, to open fire hydrants, the smell of different Latinx cuisines, and colourful flags from the Domnican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and more, hanging high and proud. In the Heights is about “a block that’s disappearing,” but now, it has never been more seen.
In the Heights is about pride, legacy, and change. Washington Heights became the barrio it is today in the early 1940s. Around 4,000 Puerto Ricans migrated to the United States each year between 1946 and 1956, and Dominicans, Mexicans, Cubans, and more soon immigrated looking to make their mark on new land while preserving traditional culture: creating clubs, getting involved in politics, and opening restaurants helped build the communities that stand there today. But with this exodus also came the need to adapt – and nothing marks our origins while showing how we evolve like language.
The story of In the Heights is simple enough: Usnavi, a bodega owner in Washington Heights, dreams of going back to the Dominican Republic, his homeland, to follow his dream and take over his late father’s bar. It also follows his family and friends who all have their own goals and struggle with staying in (or leaving) the heights — Nina, Vanessa, Benny, Sunny, and Abuela Claudia — in a story that shows different stories of Latinidad within a tight-knit community, each character exploring their own path that somehow always leads them home.
Each character’s musical number, inspired by rhythms of salsa, bachata, meringue and other dances found across Latin American and the Caribbean, reflects the key nuances between different dialects. From Abuela Claudia’s Paciencia y Fe (Patience and Faith), a powerful, sobering number telling her challenging story of coming to New York from Cuba, to the salon ladies using their own dialects and accents from Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic, every song brings a sense of authenticity to the story.
From the beginning, there is a warm welcome to Spanglish, in which different Spanish dialects blend with English to make a language of its own and tell Usnavi’s story from start to finish. It allows a greater understanding of the duality of his identity – which shifts towards the final number, fully sung in English, after he’s made the decision to stay stateside.
Though the music helps amplify a complex journey for many Latinx people, In The Heights quickly faced criticism online due to a lack of Afro-Latinx (Black-identifying Latinxs) representation, saying the film is, as writer and producer Julissa Contreras pointed out, “just more of the same whitewashed Hollywood.” She continued: “The issue is not the expectation that films must represent all Latin American experiences. The issue is dishonesty.”
A film about Washington Heights, in which so many corners of the Latin American and Caribbean world come together to create a melting pot — of faces, cultures, and identities — should offer much more than exclusively white-passing faces. As more valid criticisms poured in, Miranda offered an apology for the lack of Afro-Latinx representation and made a promise to “do better” in future, stating he was dedicated to learning in order to honour our diverse, vibrant community.
In order to do better, other details of In The Heights must be examined – ones which both enhanced an accurate representation of the Caribbean diaspora, and those that were still lacking. Small details could have offered a more authentic portrait of Latinidad language, in all its intricacies, as it plays a key part in the film’s storytelling process. It was surprising, for example, that during a blackout, not one person exclaimed, “Se fue la luz!” as in Puerto Rican and Dominican communities, it’s incredibly rare to not hear this as soon as power failures strike. Elsewhere, not a single Puerto Rican character screamed “Buenas!” as someone walked through the door – as you would typically be greeted this way when walking into a shop or bumping into someone on the street. Instead, the film relies on standard English greetings – not entirely rare, but incorporating traditional phrases could have created a greater sense of authenticity.
However, some bigger gestures worked wonderfully. ‘Carnaval del Barrio’, a musical number based on traditional carnivals, inspires joy and stands for unity. My heart swelled, when seeing each part of the Caribbean proudly waving flags representing the Domnician Republic, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico and beyond while dancing salsa and bomba. It’s a traditional dance in Puerto Rico rooted in our island’s African ancestry – a moving detail that brought a historically important tradition to the fore.
Miranda revealed he had to fight to keep the Carnaval del Barrio scene in the film because it doesn’t contribute much to the plot — it’s a scene that shows a party in the middle of a heatwave, where dancing, food, and happiness meet. Carnival celebrations offer a form of resistance – and so the scene is vital, standing for a part of Latnix cultures that cannot be erased. It’s a celebration “just because.”
Hollywood has often seen Latinx people as supporting players. The fact that In the Heights was on Broadway, a place that so often marginalizes people on and off stage, is major. The show opened in 2008 and ran for three years, during which time it was nominated for 13 Tony awards and won four. Lin-Manuel Miranda broke through, and with In The Heights he has used his voice to tell the story of many, but not yet of all. “These small details,” like Abuela Claudia said when sharing handsewn handkerchiefs, sewn by Nina’s mother before she passed, tell the world we are not invisible. The small details in language matter – we can have more Spanish, more Spanglish, and hope for a richer and more detailed world in cinema for many years to come. The opportunity is now here to push further: the window is open to create more films like this, and to turn that window into a door.
Rebecca E. Carvalho is a New Jersey-based copywriter and writer whose work has appeared in Bustle, Apartment Therapy, and Womanly Mag. In 2021, she served as a guest editor for Bold Culture's Latinx Heritage Month (2021). When she's not writing, she's searching for the best empanada or binge-watching The Sopranos.