Ugly betty and the emergence of the Latina/o producers as cultural translators

A critical examination of Betty's adaptation process sheds light on the disjuncture between global television distribution trends and national television markets' business cultures. The process of bringing the "ugly duckling" format to the English-language mainstream media market can be better understood as symptomatic of the larger changes taking place within the U.S. television industry, but also as the crucial intervention of Latina/o producers with their cultural and symbolic leverage to make the project possible. In pushing the project forward, Latina/o producers' involvement reveals how their hybrid subjectivities position them in the industry as cultural translators building a bridge to mainstream and global audiences.