Gotta kick it up4/20/2023 These are young women with talent, intelligence, responsibility, and passion. But she’s the most naturally gifted dancer, and when she’s on, she’s on. Bartlett’s classroom, and in lieu of detention, signs up for the dance team instead. The film’s lead, Daisy, is arguably the least mature of the group she got in trouble for dancing in Ms. As the eldest daughter of immigrant parents, Esmeralda, for instance, basically raises her younger brother - a responsibility that goes mostly unnoticed by her well-meaning parents who obviously take her for granted. Yes, they are ninth-graders, but as is so often the case for Latina teens, they are mature beyond their years. This portrayal does not sit right with me. One of my greatest frustrations in my recent rewatch of “Gotta Kick It Up!,” nearly two decades after my initial viewing, is how helpless the young women seem. ‘Gotta Kick It Up!’ - beloved as it may be for Latina millennials like myself - unfortunately falls victim to the white savior trope that is all too common in ‘diverse’ films. From “Dangerous Minds” to “Freedom Writers” to “The Blind Side,” Hollywood has a clear penchant for feel-good stories about white people saving the day, further playing upon stereotypes that people of color are utterly aimless without their white counterparts to guide them. “Gotta Kick It Up!” - beloved as it may be for Latina millennials like myself - unfortunately falls victim to the white savior trope that is all too common in “diverse” films. Bartlett (Susan Egan), just so happens to have a background in dance - and even attended Julliard, the sleuthing Esmeralda Reyna ( Sabrina Wiener) discovers.Įven if you haven’t seen the movie, you can probably guess what happens next. But as luck would have it, the school’s newest biology teacher, Ms. When the teacher who was volunteering as the school’s dance team coach retires, the future of the team is called into question. Starring America Ferrera as Yolanda “Yoli” Vargas, Camille Guaty as Daisy Salinas, and a mostly Latine cast, the film follows a group of Latina students at an under-resourced middle school in Southern California. For countless Latine kids of the ‘90s and 2000s, one such classic is “ Gotta Kick It Up!,” which premiered 20 years ago on July 26, 2002. Social media as we know it doesn’t exist yet, so naturally, in between mall hangs and chatting with friends (via AIM or your family’s household landline), you plop onto your neon-hued inflatable chair, grab some ‘00s-era snacks (Pop-Tarts and Trix yogurt, anyone?), and press play on your favorite network: the Disney Channel.Īlthough the Disney Channel has been around since 1983, in the early 2000s, it was arguably in its heyday, releasing a string of TV series and original movies that are now cherished classics for many millennials. Imagine, for a second, that it’s summer 2002.
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