El Pasoans react to Blue Beetle trailer with concern over movie’s representation of Sun City
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA)-- A superhero whose origin is in El Paso, Texas sent shockwaves throughout the Borderland once it was announced he would get his own DC movie.
That movie is the Blue Beetle. A teaser trailer for the film was dropped Monday, however many eager El Pasoans were left disappointed when they saw something missing from the trailer.
"It feels misrepresented," said El Pasoan, Mario Solis.
"I didn’t see glimpses of El Paso in the trailer, El Paso is the desert. It's the Chihuahuan Desert, I saw beaches and the ocean," said El Pasoan, Braulio Sanchez.
"I think the removal of El Paso kind of diminishes his identity," said El Pasoan, Michael Gutierrez.
The Blue Beetle superhero is based on a comic book about a character named Jaime Reyes.
Reyes is a teenager who lives with his family in El Paso, Texas.
Many El Pasoans were excited about the live-action debut of a local superhero.
"I love blue beetle in the aspect that he's from El Paso. I myself am from El Paso as well, so it's great to see Latino representation," said Gutierrez.
But some were left underwhelmed after the trailer revealed the movie would take place in a fictional place named Palmera city rather than El Paso.
"I'm a bit disappointed with the setting. I think that's a big part of who he is and him becoming a superhero," said Gutierrez.
"I'm not the least bit surprised," said Valentine Sandoval, local artist and filmmaker.
Valentino Sandoval sold artwork from his gallery to the director to be used in the Blue Beetle.
"It was awesome. You know, everybody's excited in town and it was a great press opportunity for El Paso, you know, to get some positive, you know, PR," said Sandoval.
He believes the decision to reenvision El Paso for the movie was beyond the director's choice.
"There's a lot of layers to it. I'm sure there's a lot of decision-makers and situations that went into that," said Sandoval, "I don't necessarily think it was the director's choice, like, oh, I'm going to not do El Paso. Instead, I'm gonna change the course of comic book history and make it something else."
Sandoval says he met the director of the Blue Beetle when he came to research the city for the film.
"I met the director, they came here, went and a research project when they were in pre-production, which is preparation for the movie itself," said Sandoval.
Sandoval says the director had a genuine interest in making the film authentic to the city.
"I know he loved the region, I know he loved the color pallets," said Sandoval, "He was really intrigued by the communal sense of the border desert town of El Paso. So I know it was positive on his end."
