Choteo and the Family Sitcom

This chapter turns to the United States’ first bilingual sitcom, ¿Qué Pasa U.S.A.? (1977-1980), to examine how it uses playfulness to offer a queer critique of the Cuban American family in exile. ¿Qué Pasa U.S.A.? was the only socially conscious family sitcom of the period to be produced entirely by the nonwhite community it represented. In addition to adopting the conventions of the family sitcom genre dominated by white artists, the show appealed to a Cuban style of playfulness called choteo. The chapter explores how, in using a culturally specific form of playfulness, and doing so bilingually, the sitcom was able to critique white heteromasculinity in Cuban America. It also notes, however, that the show sometimes replicated homophobia and anti-Black racism to produce joy in non-queer and non-Black audiences.