Hate 'Selena: The Series'? How to stream Jennifer Lopez's 1997 biopic 'Selena' and 3 things the Netflix show missed
Spoilers for 'Selena: The Series' (2020) and 'Selena' (1997)
Whether you're a fan of the Tejano Queen Selena Quintanilla, or not, (if you're old enough), you remember the time when Jennifer Lopez's career catapulted after she played the role of the singer in the 1997 biopic 'Selena.' Even though her casting caused some controversy, there is no denying the #JLo delivered her roles impeccably.
On December 4, 2020, Netflix released 'Selena: The Series' starring 'The Walking Dead's Rosita, Christian Serratos as the titular character. Part 1 of an already announced two-part series consisted of 9 episodes that revealed Quintanilla's childhood, home life, relationships, and career through a bird's eye view. It didn't give the singer the center stage, but rather spread its attention on all members of the family - her father Abraham Quintanilla (Ricardo Chavira), her mother Marcella Quintanilla (Seidy Lopez), her brother A.B. Quintanilla (Gabriel Chavarria), her sister Suzette Quintanilla (Noemi Gonzalez) and her newly fired (Episode 9 sees Abraham kick Chris out of the tour bus) lover and future husband Chris Perez (Jesse Posey). While the series was a slow watch, as series are sometimes meant to, there were things from the beloved 'Selena' that were missed.
A major difference is where the leads came from themselves - Serrators is Mexican-American and Italian while Lopez is Puerto Rican. The reason we bring this up is that the casting of Lopex caused a debate because she was born in NYC to Puerto Rican parents. It is also important to remember that Quintanilla was of native Texan Mexican descent. The Mexican representation was on point for the Netflix series. 'Selena' was iconic, yes, and there are so many scenes on there that still have people looking at Lopez and think about her role as the late legend.
Yolanda Saldívar's appearance
If you've heard of the reality of how Quintanilla was killed in 1995 by Yolanda Saldívar, the lead of her fan club, at the age of 23, then you were desperately waiting to see that being portrayed in the series. But, the series chose to keep the most horrific part of the singers' story away from the first installment. Natasha Perez plays the role of Yolanda Saldívar in the Netflix series, and we're surely going to see her more in the upcoming season because she's a dire part of the signer's tragic ending. This is not to say that Perez wasn't in Part one, but she was there only for a bit when she asks to start a fan club for Quintanilla. Whereas in the 1997 'Selena', Saldívar was played Lupe Ontiveros and was prominently featured in the movie since the murder of the Tejano singer was in the movie.
Pizza Hut scene to ‘bustier’ drama
'Selena' had some iconic comedic moments that were confirmed by Selena's real dad to be true, but yet not showcased in 'Selena: The Series.' Yes, we're talking about the scene where Cholos pulls off the front bumper in an effort to help, and the one where Selene gets an earful for wearing a "bustier" in her performance. Also, the Pizza Hut scene where Selena and Perez speak of their feelings was missed! To be honest, the comedic aspect of the story took a bit of a back seat when it came to the series, and while we know that it was a different production, they forgot to cater to the fans of the original - we're not saying this is a remake, it's not, but it made us want to re-watch 'Selena'.
Did family drama steal Selena's spotlight?
While 'Selena', being a movie, had limited time to portray the singer's rise to fame and tragic death, 'Selena: The Series' has taken liberties with its series screen time to walk through Quintanilla's story at a much slower pace. In fact, the focus of the Netflix series' first part was mainly about the family's struggles to make their brand a big name - we saw how they struggled with financial issues, a bit about Quintanilla struggle to spean Spanish fluently, A.B finding his way to new music, and Suzette trying to navigate her roles as part of her family's band and in a relationship. The series, although, a story about the signer managed to push the attention away from her quite often in its first installment, while we missed Lopez's electric and vibrant delivery in 'Selena'. To be fair, actors work off scripts, so we wouldn't blame Serratos.
No, we didn't forget! Where to bing watch stream Jennifer Lopez's 1997 biopic 'Selena' for the 50th time? The easiest option to catch the 2-hour 8-minute movie is to watch it on Netflix. Yes, you can just switch from 'Selena: The Series' to 'Selena' on the streaming platform. But if you're looking for other ways to watch it, the movie can be bought or rented on Prime Video for $2.99, iTunes, Vudu, and Google Play.
