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“La Flor M\u00e1s Bella\/The Most Beautiful Flower” is Netflix’s newest teen sequence<\/a>, and in some ways, it looks like your typical coming-of-age story. The 10-part sequence follows underdog Mich as she units out to overcome highschool. But the present is obvious from the very starting that it is distinct. It’s set in Mexico, informed in Spanish, and focused to anybody who’s ever felt completely different. <\/p>\n “Having a curvy, brunette, Mexican protagonist who embraces in style and folkloric traditions and customs, and who additionally is aware of she is fabulous and is proud to be all of that, representing so many, it is the most effective revolution,” present cocreator Michelle Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> says. “La Flor M\u00e1s Bella” is loosely based mostly on her life, rising up in Xochimilco, a neighborhood in Mexico City well-known for its canals and colourful barges.<\/p>\n According to govt producer and Campanario Entertainment’s cofounder Jaime D\u00e1vila<\/a>, Netflix initially reached out desirous to do a YA present set in Mexico. So he tapped his community, who rapidly nominated comic Rodr\u00edguez. “She simply made us snigger, which is already actually crucial factor. And then secondly, all the things she represented and all the things she was saying was so highly effective to us,” D\u00e1vila tells POPSUGAR. “It felt actually highly effective for our group \u2014 giving Latinos the chance to speak about sure points that possibly they do not discuss.” Those points vary from classism to physique positivity<\/a>, queer rights<\/a>, and racism<\/a>, including as much as a fairly completely different present than we’re used to seeing.<\/p>\n For Rodr\u00edguez, that distinction is simply her private expertise. “Sharing what I’ve discovered alongside the best way has at all times appeared to me like an awesome concept,” she explains. “And if doing so makes somebody on the market hook up with me, to my story, and really feel represented and motivated to maintain going, then that is an excellent higher incentive for me to do it.”<\/p>\n “This is a narrative a couple of younger woman from Xochimilco \u2014 you’ll be able to’t get extra particular than that,” D\u00e1vila says. “But I believe we have all been underestimated, I believe we have all felt misunderstood \u2014 that is common. And so I hope that individuals, by way of the specificity of this younger Mexican woman, additionally see themselves.” Asking audiences throughout the globe to see themselves in Mich’s particular circumstances appears like an enormous leap ahead for Latina illustration.<\/p>\n Take, for instance, how “La Flor M\u00e1s Bella” portrays Mexico. For Rodr\u00edguez and D\u00e1vila, the intense, stunning Mexico of the present is solely their reality. “Mexico is a fascinating place,” Rodr\u00edguez says. “When I began telling my story to the author, Fernanda Eguiarte, she was fascinated by Xochimilco and the tales I lovingly informed her of the place that raised me. Immediately, we determined that Xochimilco and Mexico could be necessary characters on this story. Showing a vibrant Mexico, the place you will be who you’re, is a part of the invitation to really feel happy with being who you’re.”<\/p>\n “The Mexico you see in media of drug wars and violence nonstop, it is simply not true. The Mexico that we shot in ‘La Flor M\u00e1s Bella’ is the Mexico I do know. It’s vibrant, it is stunning, it is various, it is sophisticated.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n For D\u00e1vila, it was additionally a political name. “Being a Mexican American meant for me, personally, being in Mexico so much. And each time once I would come again, individuals would say, ‘Wow, what was it like? Was it actually harmful?’ And you are like, ‘No, I used to be visiting my aunt’s. It’s a metropolis, a traditional metropolis,'” he remembers. “The Mexico you see in media of drug wars and violence nonstop, it is simply not true. The Mexico that we shot in ‘La Flor M\u00e1s Bella’ is the Mexico I do know. It’s vibrant, it is stunning, it is various, it is sophisticated.”<\/p>\n Part of that complication is race, class, and colorism \u2014 a troublesome topic the present does not draw back from. In truth, Mich’s major antagonists are a gaggle of white Mexicans in school. They’re the favored youngsters and the bullies \u2014 their gentle pores and skin granting all of them kinds of favors from their friends and their academics. One of them additionally occurs to be Mich’s cousin, Brenda, who antagonizes her prima nonstop. And even because the present units up Brenda because the villain, it is cautious to complicate that. Brenda could wield her energy cruelly in school, however she’s caught with a house life that had her develop up too quickly. Indeed, she’s jealous of Mich’s upbringing and her means to like herself despite society’s requirements. <\/p>\n “In Mexico, oftentimes, in your personal household, you may have completely different shades, you may have completely different colours, and your loved ones treats you otherwise consequently. I noticed it in my circle of relatives.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n “In Mexico, oftentimes, in your personal household, you may have completely different shades, you may have completely different colours, and your loved ones treats you otherwise consequently. I noticed it in my circle of relatives. I see it with my grandma, God bless her,” D\u00e1vila recounts. When it involves Mexican movie, telenovelas, and even information anchors, the illustration has traditionally been on the lighter aspect. But “La Flor M\u00e1s Bella” challenges that, decentering the blond prima for the darker, heavier Mich.<\/p>\n “People are so usually judged by a canopy, and I simply assume it is such a mistake,” D\u00e1vila says. There’s a plot within the present the place Mich, an incredible singer and performer, desires the lead within the faculty musical. They’re doing a tackle ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ and the trainer prefers the blond, slender Alice of the Disney cartoon.<\/p>\n Mich does not let the drama trainer’s racist worldview cease her. With the assistance of her supporting associates, she asserts that she is Alice of Xochimilco and retains at it. Yes, generally she will get annoyed \u2014 particularly when her white boyfriend of a 12 months nonetheless refuses to take their relationship public or when she seems invisible in school, even to the principal. But that is Mich’s story, and she or he is set to be the central character in her life, it doesn’t matter what the world throws at her.<\/p>\n “She is just not a sufferer, neither is she a personality who’s there purely for comedic aid. Having such a personality is therapeutic, inspiring, and highly effective for all of us who’ve by no means felt represented on display earlier than. Recognizing that we’re fabulous is one thing that we aren’t taught in school and generally not at dwelling both,” Rodr\u00edguez explains. “That is why it’s so necessary that this Mich reveals everybody how fabulous she is, so that each one those that see themselves mirrored in her know there’s nothing to be uncomfortable about. This is your physique; stay your life!”<\/p>\n As a excessive schooler, Mich is determining who she is. But whether or not she’s grappling with how others understand her physique, her personal sexuality, or the racial politics of Mexico, self-love stays. That’s actually the place the present finds its energy. “People ought to really feel higher about themselves and simply love themselves. Because that is the key . . . and it is arduous, proper? It’s actually arduous. It’s actually difficult in a world the place you are getting so many messages from media, from your personal household,” D\u00e1vila attests.<\/p>\n “Ever since I used to be just a little woman, I dreamed of being an artist, and I assumed that I couldn’t be within the tv, music, and theater business, as a result of I hardly ever noticed girls like me,” Rodr\u00edguez says, explaining how society’s expectations affected her rising up. “‘The Most Beautiful Flower’ is the sequence that I’d have favored to see as a baby and adolescent; even now, I’m nonetheless letting the message this story conveys sink in. I hope the viewers connects with the story and with Mich, who is aware of how you can rejoice variations and who believes that flaws will be superpowers.”<\/p>\n Mich’s self-love actually does really feel completely different from a coming-of-age heroine, and that is earlier than including in how the present normalizes Mexico or the way it asks viewers to have interaction in complicated conversations round race, class, and sexuality in Latin American society. It questions who’s worthy of affection and why. Taken all collectively, these components arrange a brand new sort of illustration. One that, as Rodr\u00edguez says, has the potential to be the most effective sort of revolution.<\/p>\n![\"La](\"https:\/\/media1.popsugar-assets.com\/files\/thumbor\/WgOuoZ04NNMJcZF-wlbUaaJqSKQ\/fit-in\/2048xorig\/filters:format_auto-!!-:strip_icc-!!-\/2022\/12\/09\/728\/n\/48435478\/tmp_HnAPSg_7af8ff9b60dd7393_FLOR_110-SC030011_R.jpg\" "\\"La")
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