Does Netflix’s ‘Griselda’ Dangerously Glorify a Destructive Criminal?

Sofia Vergara is back with another iconic role after her 11-year run in the modern family that propelled her to fame; this time she is donning the face of the queen of cocaine, Griselda Blanco, who terrorized and became a flagpole for violence.

The Twisted Story of Griselda Blanco

Griselda Blanco is the story of a woman turning to violence and unhinged cruelty because of her ambition for a lavish lifestyle. She had a meteoric rise through the ranks of drug dealers due to her murderous streak and her ability to eliminate threats as early as possible without giving them any chances to grow.

The Netflix adaptation(1) starring Sofia Vergara has twisted her cruel actions as a mere mother’s struggles to protect her loved ones. This is ironic considering she was called a black widow due to her alleged killing of three husbands, two of them were working with or for her and were later killed off.

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One of her ingenious ideas was the creation of a girl squad, used for transporting cocaine in well-hidden pockets in the lining of their bras. These were former sex workers turned into drug transporters. 

The show tries to showcase Griselda as a godmother for these women. Griselda’s sole motive behind these operations was the well-being and elevation of these women. But the truth was vastly different, she used women the exploit, the custom’s weakness of not having many women staff to conduct body searches for every passenger. 

Netflix Griselda tries to depict Griselda as an underdog who rises against demeaning men and takes a major role in a male-dominated field. This is further divulged when a girl boss attitude is given to the overall storyline, carefully giving Griselda a rouge heroine outlook. Instead of the true vicious nature depicted in history books, Netflix reimagines her as a rebel who fought against injustice in her own way. 

Moreover, she is given remorseful moments throughout the show, inviting the audience to feel sympathy for the character. This thought process is shown to cement the idea of a vulnerable girl boss who rose from the lower strata of society to the queen of a business with over 80 million dollars in the late 1970s.

The Exotic Woman Intrigue

The adaptation gives this character no accountability, firmly protecting the core ideology of victimhood, where a victim can’t do any wrong. Unlike the real Griselda, who had no remorse for the killings but was held accountable for her actions by her enemies and the authorities, the adapted one, which has no accountability but is remorseful, would give the audience a feel for the shrouded feminism at its core.

That is utterly despicable as giving a morally downtrodden character a justifiable means of understanding; using such an analogy destroys the moral compass and limits our perceptions.

The sexualized use of Columbian women as exotic women to drive intrigue is a mere tactic to shift the blame for criticism.

The real Griselda

The real Griselda had neither remorse nor regret as she expanded her business with every opportunity. Killing of those who were no longer of use to her. Although her past is not too murky to get exact figures, her kill count easily reaches beyond 200. Until she died in 2012, she was depicted as a cold-blooded killer who had no qualms about killing, even children, if it suited her ambitions.

After her death, her image was rebranded by major media to depict an anti-hero who followed the wrong path for the right reasons of protecting her children.