Gun Hill Road Film Analysis

Examining Chicana/os in Media through Gun Hill Road Latino and Latina representation in film and media is scant and when represented they usually fall into narrow categories. Latino men find themselves stereotyped as a highly sexualized Latin Lover, a treacherous criminal, or the violent macho (Alcalde, 2014). In Addition to being type-cast, Latinos are also more likely to be depicted as having a lower social status, lower intelligence and heavy accents (Schmader, Block, & Lickel, 2015) The film Gun Hill Road, presents at face value, the classic macho criminal, with the character Enrique. However, Enrique’s representation as a Latino male is called into question on multiple fronts: he has failed to be there for his family due to his being in prison and his “son” has adopted a female identity in his absence. Typical media representation of Latino masculinity is confronted in

The trailer presents scenes of escalating tension between Michael and Enrique, that culminates with with Enrique finally acting on his discomfort and perceived betrayal by roughly shearing off Micheal’s long hair. By robbing Micheal of her hair he attempts to force her back into gender conforming behaviors and into the role of a son. With this act he also asserts his role as the dominant patriarchal figure. The hegemonic and Latino construction of masculinity are typically ones of subordination of women, which is typified by the Macho who defends his masculinity and views through violence. This construction thus encourages violence against women who challenge their idea of masculinity, as well as men that do not embody the ideal of the dominant heterosexual male (Alcalde, 2014). Enrique’s actions stem from his understanding of masculinity, Michael is violating what Enrique thinks a son should be, so he tries to subvert this behavior by destroying the symbol of her gender violation: her