Talk:Penny Dreadful: City of Angels

What to call the people?

There seems to be some disagreement over what to call the group of people that Reilly hassles. It was originally written as Latino, before User:Drmargi changed it to "Latinx." Based on my viewing of the show, I changed it to the more specific Mexican (as the show makes very clear is the main minority population present, in addition to the people Reilly is shown harassing), but this was reverted by Drmargi on the grounds that it was an assumption. An anonymous editor objected to the usage of "Latinx," changing it to say "Latina/o," but this was reverted by User:HAL333 on the grounds of WP:NOTCENSORED.

I believe that using Latinx in this case is anachronistic (given the show's time setting), and potentially confusing to non-North American (and even non-American) readers. I disagree somewhat with the charge that changing it from "Latinx" to "Latina/o" amounted to censorship, because the debate over the usage of Latinx, especially among non-American Spanish speakers, is a significant and ongoing one outside of Wikipedia. I welcome thoughts as to what this might be changed to for consensus, and maintain that based on my own viewing of the show (remembering that summarizing a primary source is not OR), that Mexicans is not a baseless assumption and would fit the character blurb. Etzedek24 ^{(I'll talk at ya) (Check my track record)} 22:49, 1 June 2020 (UTC)

I don't have particularly strong feelings in the usage of "latino" or "latinx". Your reasoning seems perfectly sound to me. I only reverted it as I saw a "I don't like it" attitude from the IP editor. I didn't really look back in the history. If we go back to the status quo, I think latino would be better than latino/latina, as the masculine form (latino) isn't necessarily gender-specific in this situation. ~ HAL333 22:59, 1 June 2020 (UTC)

How about using "Hispanic" instead of "Latino/x" or "Mexicans"? — YoungForever^(talk) 00:36, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

YoungForever That would work too. ~ HAL333 01:01, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

I thought of Hispanic as well. I would be ok with that. Etzedek24 ^{(I'll talk at ya) (Check my track record)} 01:17, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

Sorry: I've been pulled away recently. Latinx might arguably be too modern, if we were writing in the universe of the show, but it's hardly inappropriate in the context and it's definitely not anachronistic. If we're really accurate, the term that should be used is Mexican-American. Use of Mexican implies all of the characters are Mexican nationals who identify as Mexican, despite being long-term residents of Los Angeles. That very narrowly proscribes the characters. Moreover, the sons are all American born, althought it appears their mother is not, and that makes the term Mexican wholly incorrect; they are culturally Mexican but are American citizens, thus Mexican-American.

I'm not sure if any of the editors contirbuting to this discussion are familiar with LA history of the period, but the events of the first episode leading to the destruction of the neighborhood are all based in real history; it's a major historical scandal in Los Angeles (Dodger Stadium now sits on the property, although it was not the reason the houses were originally pulled down). That community was almost entirely Mexican-American. My point being: there are two appropriate terms: either the contemporary term Latinx (which is gender neutral and less clunky that Latino/a, which, BTW, are proper nouns) or Mexican-American. Hispanic has another set of problems we can hopefully avoid discussing and keep this simpler. ----Dr.Margi ✉ 06:45, 4 June 2020 (UTC)

I say go for Mexican-American. It's the most clear given the context of the series.--TheVampire (talk) 10:55, 4 June 2020 (UTC)

This works. Etzedek24 ^{(I'll talk at ya) (Check my track record)} 20:35, 5 June 2020 (UTC)

Shouldn't we be following what the show itself uses, i.e. Chicano (with the link for context)? In fact, I would recommend we use that for the blurb on Tiago, and use "the LAPD's first Chicano detective". —Joeyconnick (talk) 06:19, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

I might be wrong but I don't think every Mexican-American in the show identifies themselves as Chicano.--TheVampire (talk) 12:42, 13 June 2020 (UTC)

Some of the Latino characters in the show were born south of California in Mexico but most of them are Los Angeles Chicanos. Samurai Kung fu Cowboy (talk) 03:11, 23 August 2020 (UTC)