Corrientes dominantes | Mainstream perspectives

In this section, you will analyse various examples of how the ideal (real, authentic) Spanish speaker is represented in mainstream texts such as social media, the news, film and television. The purpose of looking at these examples is to help you see the patterns in who is represented as a speaker of Spanish most commonly as well as how they might sound, look and more. The examples selected are common and from popular resources. It is possible that there are other examples of speakers of Spanish – but these are the most common and have a big impact on what becomes seen as the “normal” speaker of Spanish as well as the “ideal” speaker.

It is when we see these patterns of representation over and over again that they become an almost unconscious part of our thinking that we can struggle to question. We hope by showing you these examples, it is easier to identify, question and challenge these patterns.