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Racial Stereotypes In Hollywood

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Hollywood has been known for keeping latinos in their “racial lane.” Latinos have faced many challenges throughout the years in Hollywood due to racial stereotypes. Racial stereotypes in Hollywood typically include parts like, maids, housekeepers, immigrants and criminals. Although there's nothing wrong with being a maid or a housekeeper, it is wrong to stereotype all latinos as undocumented, uneducated criminals. For example, the late actress Lupe Ontiveros had recalled playing a maid 150 times during her acting career. In 2002, Ontiveros mentioned in an interview with the New York Times that during auditions casting directors would say that they preferred her to play the part of an immigrant. Although Ontiveros spoke perfect english, they still prefered that she spoke with a thick heavy accent. Despite the fact that Ontiveros’ first language was English and was born and raised in the U.S., she still faced many challenges in Hollywood. Ontiveros was raised bicultural by parents who were Mexican immigrants that migrated to El Paso Texas. She was enriched with both cultures, she had a choice between American and Mexican cinema but was still limited to the type of roles she played. …show more content…

It gives people the idea that all latinos are illegal, second class citizens, with no education or careers. It also creates the illusion that Latinos have nothing positive to offer or share with American cinema. Most importantly, It gives latinos a limited amount of options in Hollywood. The portrayal of Latinos in Hollywood, can make it difficult for not only the actors/actresses but for the next generation. Without any positive role models in Hollywood, there won’t be anybody to encourage the next, upcoming, young aspiring Latino actors/actresses. Regardless, it’s obvious that Hollywood still hasn't been able to successfully shake off the negative stereotypes that have been around for

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In Madame Noir, Nicole Akoukou Thomson (2014) writes that, “Fairer Latinas not only earn more Latina roles, but Afro-Latinas are often pushed to solely play African-American parts, forced to stifle a part of their ethnic identity.” Thomson (2014) argues that this “is problematic because it perpetuates the social invisibility of Afro-Latinos.” Torres told NBC Universo that “When [she] became an actress, [she] quickly realized that [Hollywood] liked [Latina actresses] to look Italian and not like [her]” (NBCUniverso, 2012). This forced her to audition for African American roles. This directly reflects what Thomson argues about Afro-Latina actresses.

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Growing up Mexican-American in the United States can be a challenge itself. Throw in the task, of learning two languages, it made for a very confused little girl. There was often times growing up when I wondered why no one, but my family spoke Spanish. Why everyone at school and all my friends spoke this different language. Sometimes it even seemed like I was two different people.

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999 Words | 4 Pages

And even the positive ones somehow had some negative aspects to them. For example, the film mentioned “the subconscious images that the rest of the world will have because of the roles Latinos play in

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Sherman Alexie states, "There are all kinds of addicts, I guess. We all have pain. And we all look for ways to make the pain go away." Everyone experiences pain at some point, but people look for different ways to escape it. In the novel "Indian Horse" by Richard Wagamese, the protagonist Saul Indian Horse, an Anishinaabeg boy, witnesses how his family got destroyed by white people.

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The exotification of women of color through the introduction of sound technology in films in the 1920s and 1930s drastically influenced Dolores del Rio and her career. Because the sound of a language in films could now be heard on screen, cultural diversity in the English language and its use in the United States was acknowledged through different accents and slang. Cultural diversity in the United States was only allowed if it was through ethnic European accents. The rise of sound films in the 1930s challenged Mexican star Dolores del Rio’s ability to conform to public demands and Hollywood’s expectations through the hypersexualition of Latinx women and her involvement in transnational affairs.

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1103 Words | 5 Pages

For instance, she states, “…we don’t identify with the Anglo-American cultural values and we don’t totally identify with the Mexican cultural values. We are a synergy of two cultures with various degrees of Mexicanness or Angloness” (85). This quote exemplifies what many Mexican-American think and that is, that we aren’t a part of just one culture, but rather a mixture of both. Furthermore, there are obstacles that a Mexican-American may face, such as discrimination from one or both cultures. This is seen when Anzaldúa says, “Pocho, cultural traitor, you’re speaking the oppressor’s language by speaking English, you’re ruining the Spanish language…” (77).

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Similarly, in the movie El Norte one of the Chicano waiters who works in the restaurant with Enrique undergoes discrimination from the other Latino works due to what they consider his over-assimilation into U.S. culture (El

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To what extent has the media shaped our perception of certain ethnic groups? Media has always played a vital role in the way that people shape their opinions on certain ethnic groups. If people are shown the same image of a specific ethnic group over and over again they will eventually begin to believe it. In the article The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Met a Girl Named Maria Judith Ortiz tackles and debunks one of these misconceptions created by the media and society that latina women are promiscuous and dumb. Throughout her life Ortiz is faced with the misconception of being promiscuous and dumb, but is able to overcome that educating people on the reality of latina women through her poetry.

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In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldua argues for the permission to define her own Chicano/ Feminist voice without being hindered by stereotypes and limitations. Gloria argues that, “wild tongues can’t be tamed, they can only be cut out,” but specifically argues that different accents stir up one big culture. She says “We oppress each other trying to oust Chicano each other, tying to be the “real” Chicanas, to speak like Chicanos.” meaning each Spanish is a variation of two languages, and that there’s different ways she speaks to others in certain situations like having two tongues. Gloria also argues that she shouldn’t be embarrassed by her language and accent by saying “I am my language” meaning her language is what makes her special and unique.

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1000 Words | 4 Pages

While many Asian, Hispanic, and Black people tried hard to make their dream of acting become true, racial stereotypes always are the barriers that inhibit their future in the movie industry. Thus, directors are the only ones who can make that change. Some directors said that they just do their job which follows the audience interest. However, according to the documentary film "Yellow Face”, producers did a survey on a lot of American audiences about casting Asian actors to the movie that based on other cultures. The majority prefers using Asian cast because they can perform the original culture realistically.

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677 Words | 3 Pages

Stereotypical images have for long existed. Stereotypes are images or ideas about certain groups of people or things that in most cases are not true. Hispanic Americans are one of the many groups that are targeted the most with stereotypes. Hispanics are said to be drug dealers. Many Americans claim that Hispanics come to this country to sale drugs and as a result of this the country becomes in danger.

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Typically, these opinions are unfavorable and highlight negative stereotypes associated with African Americans. Sadly, the overrepresentation of white characters in American culture contributes

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1015 Words | 5 Pages

Less than have10% of workers in Hollywood are females even though half of the United States have females. Not giving females the opportunity as the set of males showing sexism. Directors in the last few years in Hollywood cast few to none Hispanics for their films and television shows. That the directors show little to no interest to the ethnic group even though they

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661 Words | 3 Pages

All races commit crimes but it is the stereotype that has been built around Mexicans and African Americans. Another stereotype is that African Americans live in the ghetto. This is shown very well in the movie 8 Mile. In the movie 8 Mile the main character is Rabbit (Eminem) who is a white kid who was born and raised in Detroit but he lives on the “bad” side of the road 8 Mile. In the movie he lives in the more run down side of town.

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498 Words | 2 Pages

Mean world syndrome is a term in which George Gerbner created to explain the phenomenon where the violence in mass media makes the viewers believe the world is more dangerous than it actually is. Mean world syndrome is one of the key conclusions of the cultivation theory. According to the documentary, Mean World Syndrome, “cultivation is a stable system of messages and images that shapes our conception of the world and ourselves, life, society, and power,” and, “cultivation studies show that heavy viewers of television are more likely, than light viewers to perceive the world as a frightening and dangerous place.” As stated by Gerbner, a heavy viewer is someone that watches over four hours of television a day and a light viewer watches less than two. Another concept in the cultivation theory is “mainstreaming” – in which heavy viewers develop the same or similar outlook through the constant exposure to the same images/labels/messages, regardless of the viewer’s age, race, gender, etc.

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