Johanni Valerio
Professor Ewan
FIQWS
May 1st, 2019
Is That Really Who in the Media?
How does it make you feel when you see Jennifer López, a well-known celebrity playing a maid instead of an editor-in-chief, or entrepreneur? It’s the feeling of being stereotyped, unrepresented, and offended as a Latina. As a child, I grew up watching a lot of television, and most of the shows and films airing rarely had Latinos play the lead but had them be a maid, criminal or a Latin lover. When I will notice that it didn’t let me connect to nothing other than these stereotypes. Film and television should be able to reflect the reality of society. That is why screenwriters should create better representations of minorities like Latinos in their film/tv because it will create an authentic and prideful experience for this group as they are being valued and represented with fewer stereotypes and more realism.
Seeing minorities like Latinos being represented on screen is important. Even in times like today the representation there is of Latin and Hispanics does not deserve applause. It’s not the one that represents but stereotypes me and many others as a Latino. For example, Diego Guerrero’s “Searching for true Latino representation on TV” explains as a bilingual Mexican-American he has found it difficult to find “a character that represents me or even contains a character with any similar physical characteristics”. He goes on to describe the five main archetypes of Latinos that are seen on film: “The Mexican-Latin American princess, the cholo (thug), the maid, and bastard”, which are how people see Latinos on television and film. These stereotypes Latinos have are not only offensive but anyone who is not one of these is not as Guerrero states a very common phrase “not Latino enough”. For example actress Gina Rodriguez has spoken out in UNWIRE Gina Rodriguez: Representation on TV Would Make Society More Tolerant that as a Latina growing up in the United States, “I didn’t see us portrayed positively on TV. When you see certain images repeated so often, the reflection of representation on screen makes you feel a certain way about yourself.” It personally made me feel inferior to other groups because at such a young age you will believe that that is how I am supposed to be in the future. She then goes on saying a very important thing “I just wonder how much more tolerant our society would be if there weren’t such stereotypical roles portrayed for so long”( 1). We need to to create a more positive representation of minorities groups like Latinos because then what will future Latino generations look up to?
Sometimes media brings something to light that gives hope, then it is blown out. The Netflix original series One Day at a Time is a show that deals as Joseline Polo Opinion / Latinos need to be represented more in media.” “deals with topics that relate to how Latinos are often represented and directly addresses the stereotypes”. It’s these types of storylines that let us know that maybe there are shows that represent Latinos positively. When Ric Sanchez’s Canceling ‘One Day at a Time’ Was Bad. Netflix’s Announcement Was Worse., first watched this show with his girlfriend who was white, she gave him a reaction “I thought that was just your family.” He felt that when he saw this that even though he is Mexican-American and not Cuban American it was the first time he “ever had that specific aspect of my Latinx experience represented on screen”(Sanchez). This is what comes out when we are depicted positively, a sense of feeling proud. This show addressed stereotypes as Polio addresses “ the stereotype of Latinos being “too loud” in a way that doesn’t say it but accepts it which is much different than saying that’s how we are defined. But when these types are shows are taken away what else are we going to connect to? Not only did Netflix cancel this show, but its announcement was worse. Reading the announcement the reaction I had was the same as Sanchez’s. It was insensitive, it sounded as the viewers are to blame, and it was like Netflix was self-congratulating itself for airing its show(ibid.). This show needed to last, it did not finish representing the positivity of Latinos on television to make enough of a change. When people saw themselves represented in this show it’s hurtful to see how it’s stopped, because we loser show that was of the view that tried to show the portrayal of positive Latinos on television.
As a Latina myself it was hard to find a positive Latino role model to look up to. Many Spanish soap operas didn’t help either. They only represented curvy, light skinned, acne free women that made me wonder, is that that the Latina I’m supposed to look like? They were either housewives, and villians. Movies should have Latinos in film but not as maids, drug dealers. How does that feel knowing how society thinks of us? It horrible because then that portably transcend to our public image. This has even caused some actors who are Latinos to change their Spanish last name, like Charlie Sheen, and Andrew Keegan as to avoid being typecast in Latinos roles. You see them in critically acclaimed movies but it’s because of avoiding their last name. That’s a sad reality, that actors who are Latinos fear of this. Latinos should be represented equally because the United States is a country where different ethnicities should be positively portrayed by screenwriters. Raul de Ryes Coco’ Is the Movie Latinos Have Been Waiting For, explains how “Only 3 percent of speaking characters in top 100 films were Latinos”, that shows how the diversity in Hollywood hasn’t grown enough. I will always remember as a child every show I watched Lizzie McGuire, Arthur, Barney show, etc., and only at least 2 had at least a Latino kid who didn’t play a big role.
Audiences of films may argue that representation has been in films like for example Disney’s Coco. Josephine Polio explains that many people saw that Coco which uses a Latino cast to tell the story of a Mexican boy stuck in the land of the dead”. Raul A. Reyes further explains that the “Mexican characters are simply people, defined by their humanity instead of their ethnicity”(ibid.).According to Raul R A film like this helps bring a positive light to Latinos who are, “too often…shown playing gang members, drug dealers, or maids”(ibid.). However it’s still an animation, it doesn’t show the actor itself. According to Josephine Polio “It’s easier for people to feel more connected to actors than an animation” (1). People will be able to see Latinos like them, which is what screenwriters should be striving to do. Polio asserts “It would be more powerful to show Latinos in positive roles because people will see themselves reflected in those actors”. Thus Raul Reyes asserts Animation is not enough to be represented positively in an era where these characterizations “ are too often embraced by the President, who has called Mexicans criminals and “rapists,”(ibid,). According ohe informs how Latinos are characters in 5.3% of 800 movies according to the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism, and it is not positive role models (ibid.). Why are we allowing these stereotypes make people view Latinos this way? Does it have to do to how the production crew of films looks like, the crew? How did these stereotypes even begin?
As a minority, specifically a Latina, I grew up watching shows that interested me but seem to never connect to me. We need characters that we don’t aspire to be, but help us value who we are as Latinos. Why don’t we have more Latin entrepreneurs than gardeners in movies won’t it expand our view of Latinos. Sanchez explains how One Day at a Time was powerful enough to show the realism of Latinos. Guerrero asserts how hard it was a Mexican American to find representation and Polio exclaiming the stereotypes there is shows how people do notice this lack of representation. Reyes although shows how Ccoc is a latino film with good representation but how Polio counters this saying by people showing a realer representation. That’s why screenwriters need to create better representations of minorities, like Latinos in their film/TV because it will create an authentic and prideful experience for this group as they are being valued and represented with fewer stereotypes and more realism. There need to be movies that give us hope, pride to know that one of the largest minorities in the United Stars is portrayed positively in the film industry. That only starts with who’s producing, and who are making a change, because if no one makes a change it just seems like we are letting Latino archetypes define us. Latinos shouldn’t be portrayed through stereotypes, we are all different people. Let’s start having films that don’t remain you of when Cher in Clueless when said to Lucy the maid “Lucy, you know I don’t speak Mexican.”(Heckerling), when we know she was from El Salvador and could have been portrayed at the same level as Cher.
Worked Cited
Guerrero, Diego. “Searching for true Latino representation on TV.” Santa Fe New Mexican Santa Fe, NM], 22 Sept. 2017, p. B-8. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/apps/doc/A506638570/ITOF?u=cuny_ccny&sid=ITOF&xid=727931b4. Accessed 28 Apr. 2019.
Opinion / Latinos need to be represented more in media.” UWIRE Text, 11 Apr. 2018, p. 1. Infotrac Newsstand, http://link.galegroup.com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/apps/doc/A534231063/STND?u=cuny_ccny&sid=STND&xid=01f7ecd6. Accessed 28 Apr. 2019.
Raul A. Reyes. “’Coco’ Is the Movie Latinos Have Been Waiting For.” CNN Wire, 2017, pp. CNN Wire, Nov 28, 2017. Accessed 28 Apr.2019.
Sanchez, Ric. “Canceling ‘One Day at a Time’ Was Bad. Netflix’s Announcement Was Worse.”Washingtonpost.com, 2019, pp. Washingtonpost.com, March 15, 2019. Accessed 28 Apr.2019.
“Gina Rodriguez: Representation on TV Would Make Society More Tolerant.” UWIRE Text, 2018, p. 1. Accessed 28 Apr.2019
Clueless. Dir.Amy Heckerling, Alicia Silverstone, and Paul Rudd. Clueless. Hollywood, Calif: Paramount Pictures, 1995. Accessed 28 Apr.2019
