Selena, the movie, debuted in 1997, starring Jennifer Lopez in the lead role of the famed Tejano music star, Selena Quintanilla-Pérez. The movie brought her story to the world and her fans and includes the tragic end of the renowned singer. The movie became a cult classic that was remade into a series by Netflix in 2020, Selena: The Series.
The Netflix series had big shoes to fill, as fans felt that Jennifer Lopez's rendition was the best possible. Fans also gravitate to and are emotionally connected with the movie's portrayal of her story. But the Netflix series has its certain charm that fans can't help but feel emotional about and it added a bit more of Selena's life and family that fans never saw before.
Movie: Jennifer Lopez's Portrayal
Selena was the breakout movie role for Jennifer Lopez. On-screen, she embodied Selena's joyous and uplifting personality flawlessly. Fans of the Tejano singer felt that Lopez also hit the mark in representing Selena physically, from her hair to her bold red lip.
A big aspect that Lopez had to get right was lipsyncing to Selena's bold and memorizing music. But she didn't disappoint, as she looked natural g some of Selena's record-breaking hit songs.
Show: Showcased More Performances
What fans enjoyed about the Netflix series was that they got to see more performances by Selena (Christian Serratos) and Los Dinos. Despite everything that went on in Selena's life and with her family, they were always named together on stage. It was important to showcase not only the singer's ability to resonate with the crowd and get people dancing, but also the band's.
The movie only focuses on some key performances that Selena became widely known for, so it was a fresh take by Netflix to include multiple performances, from the lesser-known to the big hits, as Selena and her family rose to stardom. Through this, fans get to see Selena's evolution on stage.
Movie: Only Showcased Major Moments Of The Story
Selena, the movie, works well for audiences who are aware of the singer but want a quick crash course about her life. The movie shows the major moments of Selena's start in her career with her family. It starts with her father discovering her singing talent to them forming a band.
It soon progresses into Selena and her siblings starting with smaller performances before gaining traction and hitting it big. The same goes for Selena's personal struggles and her falling in love. Things happen naturally and quickly and fans get the basic idea of why Selena became a huge icon.
Show: Deeper Look Into Each Character
What fans were surprisingly happy about with the Netflix series was that it invested more time in Selena's family . The movie solely focuses on Selena's story, rather than her siblings and parents. The show deviated from this and gave fans the nitty-gritty of her brother and sister's personal lives as they grew with Selena into stardom.
Fans get to see her brother, A.B. (Gabriel Chavarria), find love at one of their shows, and become a family man. But, they also get to see his personal struggles around being Selena's main producer and the toll of creating her big hits. Selena's sister, Suzette (Noemi Gonzalez), also tried to find her own voice in the band while finding love.
Movie: More Theatrical
The movie had to resonate with fans and get them to feel hard emotions. This meant that the movie was much more theatrical in its portrayal of the main events compared to the show. Fans can easily tell that more emphasis and tension were created for certain scenes in the movie.
For example, there is the tension of Selena's father pushing his children to succeed despite their complaints. The drama between the family, at times, was more palpable and nerve-wracking to watch on the big screen. This was especially true when it came to Selena and Chris's relationship.
Show: Became More Emotionally Invested In Selena
While the movie is often ed as the best, fans couldn't help but feel more emotionally invested with the show version of the singer. The ability to tell her story more slowly, through episodes, allowed for more of her struggles to play out on screen. Viewers got to see Selena start to deal with not having her own life.
While everyone else around her gets to move on, get married, and pursue normalcy, she's forced to keep up her persona. Not to mention, fans also got to see Selena's professional struggle to stay true to herself when dealing with record labels. The same can be said when it came time for her to pursue her own retail business during the '90s. Fans also see her problems in her marriage with Chris.
Movie: Selena & Her Father's Story
Fans might be on opposite sides on whether the movie or show represented Selena's relationship with her father better. Some might describe the show relationship to be a bit more lighthearted than the movie. Selena and her father often butted heads at times over her career and her personal life.
The show showcased their relationship more like a father taking care of his teenage daughter than an adult Selena. The movie played out Selena's father's ambition to have her succeed, as well as her siblings.
Show: A Darker Yolanda Story
Fans of Selena are aware of her tragic end at the hands of her fan club president. The movie briefly showed the growing relationship Selena had with Yolanda (Lupe Ontiveros) that soon turned tragic. As the story goes, Yolanda was her number one fan who was hired to take care of the fan club business and Selena's boutique.
However, after being caught stealing money and vital business records, she's fired. The show followed a similar story, but gave Yolanda a darker backstory as an obsessed fan. Yolanda (Natasha Perez) grows jealous of the people around Selena, even Chris (Jesse Posey). Viewers even get to see her spiral out of control after being fired and her purchasing a gun. Unable to cope with being cut out of Selena's life, she shoots the singer dead at a motel.
Movie: Selena & Chris's Story
The show's portrayal of Selena and Chris's love story didn't have the tension and palpable romance that was seen in the movie. The show didn't add much detail about Chris's wild side while working as the band's guitarist. In the movie, Chris was seen as a bad boy that goes as far as partying and destroying a hotel room. This leads to Selena's father disliking him entirely.
The Netflix show doesn't add this level of tension between Chris and Selena's father that leads the couple to get married behind her family's back. The movie has their romance play out like a teen love story, as they sneak around and fall in love when they know they shouldn't have.
Show: The Aftermath Of Selena's Death
After Selena's tragic death in the movie, it ends with a montage of the family grieving, images, and video of the real-life Selena during a candlelight vigil. The show went further and showcased the effect Selena's death had on her fans and her family.
Viewers got to see Selena's brother try to cope with no longer seeing his sister in the recording studio. There's even a small scene of Chris lying on their bed listening to her music, trying to cope. The show also included how fans reacted to hearing her death on the radio, as well as her record label. Near the end of the scene, it shows Selena's interview of how she would like to be ed.