We recently watched Jane the Virgin in class and something interesting was pointed out. When hispanic actors are given roles, many people think in moves they would be casted as maids or janitors or low characters. Jane the Virgin takes this idea and spins it on its head. It breaks barriers in several categories: pregnancy, parents, and race. These are three topics that I noticed the most. 
Begingin with pregnancy. Janes mother had a teen pregnancy and when Jane first learns that she is pregnant the people around her look down on her thinking she went down her mothers path. It is amazing how many people she has stayed pure and that the pregnancy was actually a medical accident. Because Jane’s mother had her as a teen everyone assumes the worst of her mother and Jane. This topic is broken because Jane not only keeps the child but continues to stay pure.
Teen pregnancies have high rates of single parents. We often are not surprised to hear that a teen who has become pregnant ends up raising it on their own. When Jane finds her father, she relives he didn’t leave because he did want to raise her, he left because he was never told of the pregnancy. When he does come back into her life he comes back full force with love and devotion to a daughter he was never able to raise. This is uncommon because most stories where a child finds a parent who left rarely turn out well.
The most important thing in this series is the families ethnicity. Being a hispanic family the stereotypes are expected by those who watch the show, yet the producers of this show do a wonderful job of fighting these stereotypes. They have a famous telenovela character played by Janes father and Jane herself is becoming a writer/teacher. Jobs the are seldom held by actors of color.