Jinghan's core post #4: body shape and star power of Jennifer Lopez

        "The first thing that came to my head was the 'Butt' Girl because that separates me from everyone else. I love my body. I really, really dig my curves. It's all me and men love it. Some guys like skinny girls, but they're missing out. When a dress is on a woman, it shouldn't look like it's on a coat hanger. So many girls here are so thin-in fact nobody else in Hollywood really has my type of body. My husband calls it "La Guitarra," like the shape of a guitar, which I love because that was always my ideal woman growing up. So call me the "'Guitar Girl."!" (Beltran, 75)
        This is Jennifer's response to Movieline when she was being interviewed on her body shape as the cover story in February 1998. We have to admit that what differentiate her from other female stars is indeed her body shape and skin color. And the tags that come along with her name-- Puerto Rican and Latino. Although she is American. her ethnic identity contributes a big portion to her success in the U.S..Since she has the ideal Latin beauty-- that is, "neither too dark nor too light" (Negron-Muntaner, 183). On this cover, we see Lopez wears nothing but a white fur, her body shape has been displayed in a sexy and healthy appearance. She is not skinny, but her body reveals to us in the most plumpest way and appear to be very attractive. If her skin color satisfied what is the so-called Latin beauty by being neither too dark nor too light, I would say her body shape satisfied mainstream society's fantasy on a woman's body, that is being not skinny but sensual to audiences. Since "a first step in the media construction of a star image that emphasized what was constructed as extraordinary sex appeal"(Beltran, 75).

        Jennifer Lopez's star power has never been able to separate from her body image. Take another magazine cover for instance. Jennifer Lopez also appeared on October 9, 1998 Entertainment Weekly cover with the same setup. No clothes at all except a pair of black tights. She covers her breasts with a big smile and looks at readers with her flirty eyes and smile. It was when "the body-focused publicity actually began" (Beltran, 74). Her most controversial film but also the one that makes her super famous for her body shape is the film Selena (1997). After that, "much of Lopez's publicity for the film, especially in the Spanish-language and English0language Latino-oreinted media, focused on the fact that she didn't use any padding to play the bottom-heavy singer who often wore body-hugging costumes on stage" (Beltran, 74). From then, Jennifer's butt has became very famous and has contributed to her successful without any doubts. We hear her talks about her real butt (nothing fake no surgeries at all) all the time. And she seems really proud of it. Well she should be. Since "star images serve as definers of power and identity for a society. Nonwhite stars have particular salience in this regard, given that social and racial hierarchies are both reflected in and reinforced by a nation's system of stardom" (Dyer, as cited in Beltran, 72). Her big success in Hollywood, could not be gained without considering her star image allied with her body shape. After all, "as the hottest Latina actress in Hollywood at the time, Lopez was picked so she could deliver in the language every backer understood best: dinero, mucho dinero (money, lots of money).