Joanna Hausmann, the young woman who gives voice to Venezuelan migration in Disney: “We are superheroes”

MIAMI, USA —

The young Venezuelan Joanna Hausmann always had the desire to reflect the cultural, social and economic gaps that exist between immigrants from her country, as well as to explain the realities that this population faces in an environment that is unfamiliar to them.

Disney, the famous cartoon factory, has developed “Hamster & Gretel”, a project that was born from the collaboration with Hausmann and that seeks to narrate the challenges of a Venezuelan family in the United States.

“For me it was important to incorporate Latin voices from different countries and perspectives. The fact that half of the scriptwriters were Latino helped enormously to filter Latin culture into the characters without it feeling forced, but rather like the filter through which they see the world,” he commented. She is convinced that “that is a beautiful way to represent my culture and my country, at the same time that it provides a different texture and perspective to my characters.”

Furthermore, Hausmann is aware that “the reputation of Venezuelans for this migration has been decomposing.” He does not hesitate to admit that the “xenophobia” resulting from Venezuelan migratory flows has caused negative feelings towards this population in many Latin American countries and in the United States.

“I want to fight against this xenophobia with a story that is more representative of my culture, which portrays a family that works, that loves each other, that has great ambitions, that wants to achieve everything, that wants to save the world,” he adds, lamenting the “stigma.” ” that surrounds the Venezuelan migrant following several reports of cases of violence.

Hausmann confesses that he is “very sorry” about the situation, “because seeing your country so hurt, so hurt, going through such complicated moments, and seeing people simply trying to live their lives and create a new existence, and that 0.1 “% of those who seek a better life make us all look bad, it is very frustrating.”

“Migrants are superheroes”

Thanks to the creation of this series, which is now in its second season, Hausmann also seeks to represent Latinos as superheroes in the United States. “Many of these immigrants have become the superheroes of their family,” she maintains, convinced that “many of us who have had to emigrate and start from scratch are superheroes.”

In this sense, he highlights that in recent years he has met numerous Venezuelan migrants who “were doctors or marketing managers” and who, due to circumstances, have had to start over “working in a restaurant or delivering packages.”

“That, to me, represents an honor and a power, and I think highlighting that is crucial. I want all these migrants who watch the series or hear these stories to know that they are people like them, that they are achieving their goals,” he expresses with the hope that “they see themselves represented,” adds Hausmann, 35 years old.

“I have not been able to return to Venezuela”

The Venezuelan screenwriter completed her last years of high school in Venezuela and then moved to the United States to attend university, “with the hope of returning to Venezuela and starting to work in television there.”

“However, the situation became increasingly complicated. My family became a target for the government because of my brother’s (Michel Hausmann) plays, because my parents were opponents of the regime, and my uncle was a journalist… The possibility of returning became almost impossible, which made me filled with deep sadness,” he says.

In the US, Hausmann has achieved a successful career both on screen and on social media. She was part of the Pero like collective, a segment of the Buzfeed platform dedicated to Latinos, in its Joanna Rants section she amassed a total of about 50 million views and created the podcast Hyphenated (Scripted) with fellow Cuban comedian Jenny Lorenzo , about living in a world that connects American and Latin culture.

“I have created my Venezuela in the US”

Despite the difficulties that migration entails, Hausmann maintains that this does not represent a “big problem,” since “you create your own Venezuela wherever you are.”

“I am very proud to have created my own Venezuela in this series. I don’t feel so separated from my country because when we get to work we talk, for example, about how we are going to paint the Creole pavilion on the family table. I don’t feel like I live in two separate worlds, because I have brought that world to mine, and now I live my Venezuela,” he concludes.

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