Media portrayal in Latin America

People have yielded to the influence of television and have made it part of their everyday life.  In 1949, as stated by Darry F. Zanuck, "Television won't be able to hold on to the market. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box" (Haugen, 2004 p.88).  What Zanuck said is the exact opposite of the role of television media in today's society. People in our society have become dependent on and attached to the media system as a tool for people to communicate with each other. In fact, it is the media that helps shape our lives. With that said, there are many negative aspects to the media. Because the media's stories are shown through a camera lens, viewers only see stories from one angle. Often, minorities, particularly Hispanics, are depicted unfavorably, playing roles of antagonists and/or criminals. Because they are not often the primary focus of movies and are often portrayed in negative roles in film and television, Hispanics do not have many developed characters and positive representations in American media.  

Hispanic people are often represented in a negative light in American movies and TV shows because most of the time they are not depicted as the protagonist. Usually, they have minimal appearances or their character is extremely underdeveloped. They are often stereotyped as thugs, gangbangers, servants, laborers, aggressive, or being extremely sexual.   

Hispanic people are marginalized in American media in these ways. The Hispanic population is often negatively portrayed in American media for several reasons. One reason is that Hispanic people do not produce Latin American shows. White people provide the majority of shows, such as "George Lopez" and "Modern Family.” Therefore, a majority of Hispanic people are not portrayed accurately in the media because the white producers create Hispanic characters from false, incomplete stereotypes about Hispanic people.  Therefore, these images in television shows create misconceptions to the audience about Hispanics because white producers do not know how real Hispanics people live, act, and survive. As a result, the media has negatively represented Hispanic people as criminals, drug dealers, illegal immigrants, and traditional housewives. As a result, there are not enough positive representations of Hispanic people in the media.  

Only two percent of Latin American shows are produced by Latino people (Moreno, 2015 p .1). For example, George Lopez was produced by Sandra Bullock, a white, upper class, woman. In 2000, George Lopez was approached by Sandra Bullock to create a show because she was concerned about the lack of Latino-oriented sitcoms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George Lopez_ (TV _series)>.As a result, the George Lopez show aired on ABC and the network received a lot of criticism for the fact that Latinos and the Hispanic community had little representation on their shows. The show turned out to be a hit and is still on the air today. Aside from Carmen, the woman who plays George's daughter on the show, the entire cast of The George Lopez Show is Latino ((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George Lopez_ (TV _series)>.The George Lopez Show overall has a positive portrayal of Latinos. George is the manager at an L.A. airline parts factory, which helps to refute the common stereotype in TV of Latinos as custodians and other blue collar jobs. Also, the Lopez family is a very friendly one at that, with both parents very devoted to their children, and the issues they face are ones that any family of any race will go through. However, I think the George Lopez Show has an adverse impact given that nearly everyone George interacts with is Latino. It sends a message that Latinos are only trying to as George Lopez" which only shows Mexicans communicating solely one another instead of other races in the Hispanic community. Another reason that the show is criticized is because it does not represent all of the different races in the Hispanic community, there are mostly Mexicans in the show.  However, the "George Lopez" show is a positive representation of Hispanic people. The show gives those who have not had a lot of interaction with Latinos a chance to learn more about them. Society needs more significant positive representations of the Hispanic population in the United States in order to turn the tides of the overall negative messages about Hispanic population in the media.  

Another example of Hispanics being portrayed badly in the media is when Lopez criticized the President of ABC Entertainment Steve McPherson for using racially motivated reasons to cancel the show in 2007. The actor told the Los Angeles Times that "TV just became really, really white again," and lashed out against ABC by saying, "So a Chicano can't be on TV, but a caveman can?" about the short-lived sitcom Cavemen, which was replacing George Lopez on the schedule. Cavemen garnered a sharply negative reception from critics and viewers and were canceled after 13 episodes. Lopez blamed ABC for causing over a hundred of his show's staff to become jobless. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George Lopez_ (TV _series)>.).  This proves that even though “George Lopez” is a positive representation of Latinos, this is only one race in the Hispanic population. It cannot override the power of white people dominating any chance the Hispanic minority may have to overpower the many stereotypes portrayed on television. This is to show more positive representations of what true Hispanic people are. Unfortunately, it is still not enough to change the media's negative portrayals of the Hispanic community because it is only one show trying to counteract the media messages. There are many shows that still have a negative portrayal Hispanic community. 

In many television shows, Hispanics are portrayed as positive active roles such as police officers, nurses, doctors, teachers, lawyers and judges. But more often, Latinos represent the negative characters, the criminals, gardeners, maids, and dropouts. These negative portrayals, while they obviously are not representative of the entire community, are first impressions to sheltered audience members who aren't personally familiar with Latinos, and they are more likely to take these misrepresentations to heart. These simple characters can be potentially detrimental, engaging other's anti-Latino views. Media stereotypes penetrate American audiences, and the American public chooses to believe these farce stereotypes based on what they see on the screen. Some of the negative stereotypes are that Latinos are welfare recipients, are less educated, refuse to speak English, have too many children, take jobs from Americans and don't take care of the home. (Thompson 2013 p.1)

Another show that portrays Hispanic people in a positive light is "Orange is the New Black" because the show features a multitude of Hispanic people and each actress is talented. Likewise, "Devious Housemaids" assembled an ensemble of brilliant stars as well, women of different nationalities and different shades. Hispanic people can be proud that there is more representation on the television screen than there has been in past years. Latinos are likely to find familiar faces on nearly every network. Latinos continue to be bound by stereotypical roles. Latinos remain to play the roles of a ditsy but forgivable homemaker, certain but compassionate prison inmate, cold-blooded and calculating drug dealers, and devious and seductive housemaids. (Thompson 2013 p.1).It is still not enough to change the media's negative portrayals of the Hispanic community because these are only show trying to counteract the media messages. Many shows still have the negative portrayal Hispanic community. 

   

The misrepresentation of Hispanics has been actively progressing for many centuries. However, it is currently at the point where there is an official racist term to classify all Latin Americans into one category called "brown face." Brown face refers to the creation and propagation of racist Latino and Hispanic stereotypes and caricatures. "Latino" is the umbrella term for people of Latin American descent, and in recent years has supplanted the more imprecise term "Hispanic." Cuban Americans, Puerto Ricans, Mexican Americans, and any person who can trace their ethnic roots back to Central or South America are considered Latino if they live in the United States. (Brownface.com, p. 1). As a result of these misrepresentations, the reality is that all Latin American characters are played by white actors in brown makeup, and they are not played by real Hispanics.  This practice is known as "Whiteshaving," when white people play minorities or people of color. Besides, Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used by performers to represent a black person. An example of this is when Robert Downey Junior played Steve Lopez. Less than five percent of characters in hit movies are Hispanic, according to a recent study of 500 films between 2007 and 2012 by Dr. Stacy L. Smith, a professor at USC's Annenberg School of Communication. Hispanics fare worse than any other ethnic group, never making up five percent of the roles in any year. In 2009, they secured just 2.8 percent. (Shaw, 2014 p.1).

  There are six most common stereotypes of Hispanic Americans: the Latin lover, the domestic, the male buffoon, the harlot, the female clown, and the Bandito. Each stereotype has its distinct characteristics. For example, the Latin lover is characterized by a thick accent, a handsome, tall, strong, man on horseback (Brown Face.com p.1). The Latin lover stereotype was first popularized by Italian actor Rudolph Valentino and became a film standard after his performances in The Sheik (1921), and Son of the Sheik (1926).  (Brownface.com, p.1). Secondly, the male buffoon is a simpleminded comedian. The male buffoon always plays the fool for comic relief. He is characterized as someone like George Lopez, who in reality is the exact opposite of this stereotype. Brownface.com,p.1).

The domestic is characterized as someone like the maid from Family Guy. In general, Hispanic domestics are a staple in the media's depiction of affluent American families. Stereotypes of the Hispanic maid and gardener often speak heavily accented English, liberally sprinkled with Spanish words and phrases. Fourth, the harlot is the healthy, sexualized woman who is upper-class, hot-tempered, and a slave to her passions. (Brownface.com, p.1). The female clown is the comic counterpart of the Latin male buffoon and, like the harlot exemplifies a typical device that the Hollywood narrative employs to neutralize the screen Latina's sexuality. This is a requirement because the hero must have a reason to reject the Latina for the Anglo woman, thereby maintaining the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, status quo. (Brownface.com p.2).For that to occur, the Latina's sexual allure must somehow be negated (Brownface.com, p2). 

         Finally, the Bandito is a man who is unkempt, usually displaying an unshaven face and missing teeth. Also, his face is scarred and scowling to complete the easily recognizable stereotype. He is vicious, cruel, treacherous, shifty, and dishonest. His inability to speak English is Hollywood's way of signaling his feeble intellect and lack of brainpower that makes it impossible for him to plan or strategize successfully. The Bandito lives in American film as the Latino drug runner, the Puerto Rican toughs in New York. (Brownface.com, p.2). Hispanic Americans, like many other minority groups in the United States, have long suffered from the effects of racial stereotyping. 

Hispanic people are now the largest ethnic minority in the United States, but their rise in numbers has not necessarily made it easier for them to challenge stereotypes. The reason why Hispanic people are portrayed in the media by stereotypes from maids to gangbangers reveals why sweeping generalizations about Latinos are harmful.  For example, Despite the fact that Hispanic men are often reduced to Latin Lovers in television and film, Hispanic women are commonly labeled as dehumanized sexual objects. This is shown by actresses such as Rita Hayworth, Raquel Welch, and Carmen Miranda who are some of the Latinas in early Hollywood who capitalized on their sexy image. More recently, Eva Longoria played a conniving Latina homemaker who used her looks to advance her agenda in "Desperate Housewives". Sofia Vergara continues to play the role of Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on "Modern Family," which many prominent Latinas argue not only fuels the stereotype that Hispanic women are sexy but also loud, crazy and spicy. "The problem here is that this idea of the curvy, sexy and sultry Latina denies their cultural identification based on their physical appearances and sexual attractiveness, alone," explained Tanisha Ramirez in the Huffington Post.  She then states: "In essence, this sort of thinking traps our culture within our bodies, ignoring the values, ethics, and traditions that contribute to our sense of culture and community" (Kareem , 2014 p.2 ). 

As a result of these stereotypes, American people have the wrong ideas about Hispanic people.  Even though the media has often created a very negative representation of the Hispanic community, they have made substantial contributions to the film and television industries, and they have made contributions in creating over-index digital communicators and online content. Moreover, they are watchful of their image. Programs or films are perceived to have derogatory images against Hispanic people or content which discriminates against Hispanic people .They have advocacy groups and consumers target studios and networks with increasingly effective campaigns. Simultaneously, programs and movies are featuring compelling Hispanic people talent and storylines are often rewarded with high ratings and revenue. With few exceptions, Hispanic people participation in mainstream English language media is stunningly low. A review of the top movies and television programs reveals that there is a narrower range of stories and roles, and fewer Hispanic lead actors in the entertainment industry today than there were seventy years ago. Whereas the Latino population grew more than 43% from 2000 to 2010, the rate of media participation—behind and in front of the camera, and across all genre and formats—stayed stagnant or grew only slightly, at times proportionally declining. Even further, when Hispanic people are visible, they are portrayed through decades-old stereotypes as criminals, law enforcers, cheap labor, and hyper-sexualized beings. This problem is the Latino media gap advocacy groups and consumers target studios and networks with increasingly effective campaigns. (Muntaner, Abbas, Robertson, Figueroa, 2014 p.1)

In conclusion, even though there has been an increase in positive representations of the Hispanic community, overall, the media is still portraying Hispanic people in a negative light. As a result, Hispanic people continue to be stereotyped because they are a minority in the United States. There needs to be more positive representations of Hispanic people in society to change the negative misconceptions American people have about Hispanic people.  

                   

References

Brown face! - The History of Racist Latino/Hispanic Stereotypes." Brownface! - The History of Racist Latino/Hispanic Stereotypes. Brown Face. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.

George Lopez (TV Series)." Wikipedia. 9 Dec. 2007http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George Lopez_ (TV _series)>.

"GRAMMY.Com." GRAMMY.Com. The Recording Academy. 8 Dec. 2007 <http://www.grammy.com/Latin/>. 

Haugen, David.  Media Violence. Greenhavan Press: Bonnie Szumski 2004.

      

Huff, Richard. "Networks Up Latino Levels." The New York Times 14 Oct. 2003: 89. 

"Latin GRAMMY Awards." Wikipedia. 4 Dec. 2007. 9 Dec. 2007 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Grammy_Awards>. 

Muntaner, F. N., Abbas, C., Robertson, S., & Figueroa, L. (2014, May/June). The Latino Media Gap Columbia University. Retrieved April 22, 2016, from http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cser/downloads/AdvancedExectutiveSummary.pdf

Nittle, N. K. (2015, March 2). Five Common Latino Stereotypes in Television and Film. Retrieved April 22, 2016, from http://racerelations.about.com/od/hollywood/a/Five-Common-Latino-Stereotypes-In-Television-And-Film.htm

Rodriguez, Clara E. Latin Looks: Images of Latinas and Latinos in the U.S. Media. Westview P, 1997. 2-129.

Shaw, L. (2014). Hollywood's Abysmal Record of Casting Hispanic Actors. Retrieved April 20, 2016, from http://www.thewrap.com/hollywoods-abysmal-record-of-casting-hispanic-actors/

Tam, Olivia. "Rethinking Race – Looking At Racial Issues in and Around USC." The Daily Trojan. 3 Dec. 2007 <http://yellowworld.org/arts_culture_media/85.html>. 

Thompson, N. A. (2013, November 11). Mo' Latinos, Same Problems: Negative Portrayal of Latinos 

Continue in the Media, Despite More Latino Talent on the Screen. Retrieved April 26, 2016, from http://www.latinpost.com/articles/3686/20131111/latinos-media-portrayal-television-latno-talent-negative.htm

TV Shows. (n.d.). Retrieved April 13, 2016, from http://www.umich.edu/~ac213/student_projects07/latinoad/tv.html

Bibliography

GRAMMY.Com." GRAMMY.Com. The Recording Academy. 8 Dec. 2007 <http://www.grammy.com/Latin/>. 

Huff, Richard. "Networks Up Latino Levels." The New York Times 14 Oct. 2003: 89. 

Jimenez, Lillian. "Moving From the Margin to the Center: Puerto Rican Cinema in New York." The Ethnic Eye (1993):  23-37. 15 Dec. 2007 <https://ctools.umich.edu/portal/site/94407b79-8f8f-4f43-0050-c920e3d339ff/page/ac887da9-7274-43d2-00ba-a86231979249>. 

"Latin GRAMMY Awards." Wikipedia. 4 Dec. 2007. 9 Dec. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_Grammy_Awards>. 

Lloyd, Elizabeth. "No Habla Espanol?" IMedia Connection Connecting to the Marketing 

Connection. 25 Mar. 2004. 8 Dec. 2007 http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/3103.as

Navarro, Mireya. "Changing U.S. Audience Poses Test for a Giant of Spanish TV." The New York Times 10 Mar. 2006. 3 Dec. 2007 

<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/10/business/media/10visi.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slog

The article, Moving from the Margin to the Center: Puerto Rican Cinema in New York.

This site gave an overview of the TV show Ugly Betty. It provided us with some background information about the show.

"United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce." USHCC. USHCC. 8 Dec. 2007 <http://www.ushcc.com/res-statistics.html>.