Latinos beyond Reel: Challenging a Media Stereotypes Latinos beyond Reel is a 2012 documentary that focuses on how Latinos are misrepresented and underrepresented in the U.S. news and media. Latinos are the fastest growing and most diverse segment of the United States population, accounting for more than 50 million people who trace their origins back to more than twenty different countries. Despite this, the U.S new and entertainment rely on stereotypical portrayals instead of showing the reality and richness of the Latino experience. With the help of community leaders, scholars, producers, actors, and directors the film examines how Latinos appear in the media and films and examines how those negative stereotypes have a wide ranging …show more content…
Even as Latinos continue to gain political power and the population grows, the news media don’t reflect this and there is even often times a backlash against them. The film contains many facts about the growth and significance of the Latino community in the United States while pointing out that even as the community grows, the media makes no moves to represent Latinos. The times they do choose to talk cover Latinos, the stories are overwhelming negative. Latinos represents the 2nd largest group in the United States, with 16% of the total population being Latinos. They are grossly unrepresented and misrepresented in entertainment and news programs, both in front and behind the camera. They are virtually absent from major national news coverage. In a decade long study in which Latinos population grew from 11% to 15%, coverage remained stagnant at 1%. Of the stories that did air, the majorities were negative and about Latinos having problems or causing problems in regards to immigration or crime. Immigrant is a major issue that is covered extensively, but the stories are usually …show more content…
From the stories told to the fact reported, there was nothing out of place and I found it very enlightening. The images of the children nearly in tears watching video where people played “beaner” games and the fact that they couldn’t think of many Latino good guys in movies were especially powerful to me. The film was very well made and educational. I enjoyed the stories told by the actors who had to take roles they didn’t want to take because they had no choice. The cinematic presentation of the film was well done for the most part. The information was presented in an educational and interesting way that grabbed my interest from start to finish. The use of actual media coverage and films showing the problems they were talking about was a great way to drive home the point. Giving the audience facts of the population growth and showing that even as the population grew, Latino representation on the media and in Hollywood movies has not changed was a great way to show the problem with facts and not just