Hispanics and Latinos in American film

Hispanics and Latinos in American film
You have to learn to talk like a Mexican.”
~ Enrique’s friend, El Norte (1983)
Hispanics and Latinos in American film
§
Hollywood films commonly reduce Hispanic and Latino identities into
“six basic stereotypes,” denying them a diverse, multi-faceted
representation (Ramirez-Berg, 112).
Gold Hat in Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Tony Montana in Scarface (1983)
§
The Mexican bandit, or el bandido is a “treacherous, shifty, and
dishonest” character, with a “dirty and unkempt” appearance, and
severely limited intelligence (Ramirez-Berg, 113).
§
Drug-runners, corrupt dictators, and gang members are contemporary
versions of the bandit stereotype.
Hispanics and Latinos in American film
§ The halfbreed harlot is “lusty and hot-tempered,” and her main
function is to provide sexual titillation for the spectator, and for
the other characters in the film (Ramirez-Berg, 113).
Melina in Total Recall (1990)
Crystal in The Women (2008)
§ She is often positioned as a nymphomaniac or prostitute because
she “likes the work, and not because social or economic forces
have shaped her life (Ramirez-Berg, 113).
Hispanics and Latinos in American film
§ The male buffoon is simple-minded, childish, and speaks a form
of broken English.
§ The female clown is the male buffoon’s counterpart, and the
halfbreed harlot’s opposite; she is a ridiculous caricature that
“negate(s) the Latin female’s eroticism” (Ramirez-Berg, 114).
Pedro’s lack of agency in Up in Smoke (1978)
Gordito in The Return of the Cisco Kid (1939)
§ The buffoon and the clown are both ”objects(s) of comic derision”
that are made less threatening by their antics (Ramirez-Berg, 114).
Hispanics and Latinos in American film
§ The male buffoon is simple-minded, childish, and speaks a form
of broken English.
§ The female clown is the male buffoon’s counterpart, and the
halfbreed harlot’s opposite; she is a ridiculous caricature that
“negate(s) the Latin female’s eroticism” (Ramirez-Berg, 114).
“Mexican Spitfire” in The Girl From Mexico (1939)
Dorita’s clowning in The Gang’s All Here (1943)
§ The buffoon and the clown are both ”objects(s) of comic derision”
that are made less threatening by their antics (Ramirez-Berg, 114).
Hispanics and Latinos in American film
§ The Latin lover is handsome, charismatic, and has a dangerous
quality about him. He is an intriguing, excessively masculine
figure that women cannot resist.
Julio in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
Belinha in Flying Down to Rio (1933)
§ The dark lady is “mysterious, virginal, inscrutable, aristocratic and alluring precisely because of these characteristics” (RamirezBerg, 115).
Hispanics and Latinos in American film
§ Hispanic and Latin nations have also been given stereotypical
attributes. They are characterized as violent, filthy, despicable
places that have been overrun by bandits and criminals.
Mexico/Texas border in The Counselor (2013)
El Guapo terrorizes in Three Amigos (1986)
§ Hollywood has also perpetuated is the disguised or distorted
image of Hispanics and Latinos (Ramirez-Berg, 118). They are
aligned with aliens, demons, nonhuman forms, and positioned as
foreign, otherworldly, and above all dangerous.
Hispanics and Latinos in American film
§ Hispanic and Latin nations have also been given stereotypical
attributes. They are characterized as violent, filthy, despicable
places that have been overrun by bandits and criminals.
Mexican vampires in From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
§ Hollywood has also perpetuated is the disguised or distorted
image of Hispanics and Latinos (Ramirez-Berg, 118). They are
aligned with aliens, demons, nonhuman forms, and positioned as
foreign, otherworldly, and above all dangerous.
Hispanics and Latinos in American film
Stand and Deliver
Directed by
Ramón Menéndez
Written by
Ramón Menéndez
& Tom Musca
American Playhouse
(1988) 103 mins.
Charles Ramirez Berg. ”Stereotyping in Films in General and of the Hispanic in Particular,” Latin
Looks. Ed. Clara E. Rodriguez Boulder: Westview Press, 1997.