Johanni
Valerio
Professor Ewan
FIQWS
April 29, 2019
Is that really who we are 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 that makes you aware that Latinos are portrayed in a wrongfully way. 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, or had them be a maid, criminal or Latin lovers. It’s that awareness as a child that didn’t let me connect to nothing other than these stereotypes. Film and Television are what affect us in this society. That is 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 less stereotypes and more realism.
Seeing minorities like Latinos represented on screen is important. But it’s that representation actually the true one? Even in times like today the representation there is of Latin and Hispanics does not deserve an applause. It’s not the one that represents but stereotypes me and many others as a Latino. For example, Diego Guerrero, an author of the The Santa Fe New Mexican 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”(Guerrero). 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 are what 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”. In Josephine Polios “Opinion/ Latinos need to be represented”, actresses like Gina Rodriguez has spoken out in UWIRE Text 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.” (Polio). It personally made me feel inferior to other groups because at a young age I will believe that is how I am suppose 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” (Ibid). We need to to create a more positive representation of minorities groups like Latinos because then what will future Latino generations look up to?
Moreover 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 Polio from the Unwire text states “ with topics that relate to how Latinos are often represented and directly addresses the stereotypes”(Ibid). It’s these types of storylines that let us know that maybe there are shows that represent Latinos positively. Rich Sanchez’s “Canceling ‘One Day at a Time’ Was Bad. Netflix’s Announcement Was Worse” explains that when he 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.” This is what comes out when we are depicted positively, a sense of feeling proud, a sense of reflecting to yourself on screen. This show addresses as Polio asserts “ the stereotype of Latinos being “too loud”. This lets us know that the show that doesn’t shy away from the stereotype but accepts it which is much different than saying that’s how we are defined. But when these types of shows are taken away what we have connected to. Not only did Netflix cancel this show, but its announcement about how they couldn’t continue the show because of ratings 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 it self for airing its show. 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 lose a show that was of the 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 suppose to look like? They were either housewife’s, villains and that didn’t have a well representation. Movies rarely, or never have Latinos in film, as maids, drug dealers. How does that feel knowing that how society thinks of us. It horrible because then that portably transcend to our public image. For example actors like Oscar Isaac, Charlie Sheen, and Andrew Keegan are all Latinos who changed their last names to avoid being typecast in Latinos roles. You see them in critically acclaimed movies but it’s because they hid something that was a part from them. 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. According to Unwire “Only 3 percent of speaking characters in top 100 films were latinos”(Reyes), that shows how the diversity in Hollywood hasn’t grown enough. I will always remember shows like Lizzie McGuire, Arthur, Barney show etc., and only at least two shows that had kids who are Latino play huge roles.
Audiences of films may argue there has been representation of Latinos 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”( Ibid) This film Raul A. Reyes explains that the “Mexican characters are simply people, defined by their humanity instead of their ethnicity”(Ibid). A film like this helps bring a positive light to Latinos who are, “too often…shown playing gang members, drug dealers, or maids”, according to Reyes. However it’s still an animation, that doesn’t show the actor itself. According to Josephine Polio “It’s easier for people to feel more connected to actors than an animation”. 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”. An 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,” asserted by Reyes. Reyes added on that Latinos are characters in “5.3% of 800 movies according to the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism”, and they do not play positive role models. Why are we allowing these stereotypes make people view Latinos This way? It could probably deal with how the production and crew of films look like.
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 admire and let us know that we will have a great future and 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? That’s why Screenwriters need to create better representations of minorities. That way Latinos in film/tv can have an authentic and prideful experience as they are being valued and represented with less stereotypes and more realism. There needs 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’s 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 remind you of when Cher in clueless said to Lucy the maid “Lucy, you know I don’t speak Mexican.”, when we know she was from El Salvador and could of been portrayed at the same level as Cher.
Source Pages
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
