ABSTRACT
This article seeks to come to terms with the phenomenon nowadays commonly referred to as ‘mainstreaming’, in particular with the very recent and tenuous Chicano entry into the world of mainstream entertainment. In popular usage, ‘mainstream’ has associations of grandeur, of being on the inside of powerful institutions, of being relevant and in the center of things. That which lies outside the mainstream would appear, by contrast, insignificant, minor or invisible, virtually nonexistent. The term ‘mainstream’ is, however, also a euphemism which obscures a relationship to profit (the motivating force behind any mainstream institution), to dominance. It is a term which conceals corporate interests, the widespread exclusion of non-white and oppositional cultural practices, be they Chicano, Afro-American, Asian American, or Native American. Most Chicanos alive today have grown up in a world in which Chicano culture is well outside the mainstream of images presented within entertainment media such as the Broadway stage, television, radio, etc. Given the reality of past and present exclusionary practices, of exclusion from participation in the dominant society’s institutions (political, cultural, economic), we cannot help but marvel when a person of color ‘crosses over’ (a popular term reflecting the divide) into the mainstream. To be sure, these are rare cases.
