Jane the Virgin and its relationship with Orwell's view on "Politics and the English Language"

        I have recently become addicted to a famous CW show, Jane the Virgin. The show is not entertaining because of its plot and concept, but because of the political issues of diversity, freedom, and the ability of choice it emphasizes along the way. Having a cast, where majority of the actors are of Latin descent, depicts the reality that America is composed of immigrants. To add to this, the show has three female Latin characters, Jane, Xiomara, and Alba (Jane’s Abuela), who run the house, showing the idea of feminism and women empowerment. In Season 2, the show focused on immigration. Abuela dealt with her illegal immigration, as she fled from Venezuela to the United States without the proper documentation. She finally obtained her green card to become a legal citizen. Yet, the recent change in her status foreshadows that some may view her and non-citizens as dangerous, without even thinking about the considerations in between. In fact, Abuela is so terrified that ICE will take her card away, that she doesn’t even want to join in protests. This concept of immigration is heavily emphasized as Mateo, Jane’s son, asks why some individuals do not want peace in this country. Jane explains to him that America is diverse, yet there are certain people who refuse to accept and acknowledge that.    

     In my view, I think that Jane the Virgin is evidence of the “decay of language”. Although it provokes emotion, the imagery just comes from that of the actor’s facial expressions. There is no imagery from the words that are being spoken. In fact, when the characters are upset at each other, they text each other in order to communicate their feelings. Yet, the problem with that is that one will get the wrong message and idea from what was intended to be understood. Plus, this only makes the situation worse because they are hiding their feelings and thoughts through overcomplication. From the words used to express one's emotions, an implied view is only given because the certain words used to convey one's perspective does not necessarily give a complete meaning. 

     The political issues mentioned previously, get the audience thinking and hopefully become active. But I feel that the writers go overboard with bringing these issues up. There is no connection to the major problem of the show, which is that Jane was artificially inseminated and has to deal with the decision of having the baby or not, while dealing with her life and sex life. It is clear from the title of the show, that this is about Jane. So, why bring up other characters and their issues? I just think that these issues were forcefully implied and unintentional, therefore isolating the audience from the perspective the show was trying to portray. Like Orwell said, “When you think of something abstract you are more inclined to use words from the start,”. The writer of the show felt the urge to add more to the show, driving it away from the main issue and making the plot distorted and not clear. Similar to the use of dying metaphors, the show includes different political issues, but fails to connect them together. This gives the impression that they are unaware of what they are talking about and just put themselves in a continuous cycle of a never ending explanation, not ever getting to the main point. Mateo’s question reveals the idea that “language can also corrupt the thought”. Jane’s idea on why there is no peace, affects Mateo’s opinion on that matter. Considering that Mateo is only a child, he believes whatever his parents tell him. Although what Jane said was true, it just shows how a parent’s “language” influences the youth. Whether it is true or not, they are to stick to and mimic whatever they were told to believe. They are easily manipulated by one’s ideology, in which sometimes the truth is concealed and insincere. Therfore, the show represents the "decay of language", as it uses abstractness, preventing it from delivering a clear concept.