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Latinos in the media essay
Media portrayal of Latinos essay
Media portrayal of Latinos essay
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The image of Latinas has changed numerously since television began. In the year of 1961, America was introduced to spicy, fierce, sexy Latina known as Anita in West Side Story. Since then, a majority of people had assumed that all Latinas were just like Anita. Angry, and disappointed, Latinas nationwide would say that they “racialized and sexualized the brown female body” after the release of West Side Story (Angharad). It was not until the late 1970’s to 1980’s that, ¿Qué Pasa, USA? became the first sitcom podcasted on national television in the United States. When ¿Qué Pasa, USA? was aired we were able to see the first all brown cast (¡Que Pasa!1). By all means, this particular show did a great job in portraying not only Latinas but Latinos …show more content…
In the show Jane the Virgin, we get to meet Jane Gloria Villanueva, a Latina from Miami. Jane is portrayed by Puerto Rican actress, Gina Rodriguez. Throughout the show, we get to meet this young ambitious girl that never gives up on her dreams despite how impossible they may seem. It is important to realize, that at the beginning of the show Jane is a full-time student at the University of Miami and works full time. Not to mentation, we see the daily struggles Jane faces with, for example, not having her own transpiration, family problems, and economic status that makes it nearly impossible for her to keep pursuing her education. Despite all the obstacles, she manages to get her Bachelor’s degree in education, and becomes valedictorian of her class. As a Latina, I would say it is heartwarming to see on television an encouraging Latina that demonstrates the daily struggles that most Latinas can relate to. Not to mention, Gina’s character does not dress in tight close compared to Sofia’s character. Unlike Gloria, Jane dresses in flowy clothes, to be more exact in flowy sun dresses, or just pants and a regular blouse. Vanity Fair states that Gina Rodriguez, “breaks down the ugly ethnic and gender stereotypes.” Gina Rodriguez tells Vanity Fair, “Latinos are not just our nanny’s and our landscape artist, although both of those jobs are very admirable and pay a lot of money, but that’s not all we do.” (Buckner). Overall, one can agree with Gina since Latinos are capable of doing so much more. Gina also mentions that we have come to the era where television is finally noticing that we too are doctors, lawyers, and even
North Americans and Mexicans must also attempt to overcome the ideas that women should be seen and not heard. In Anzaldúa’s words, “Hocicona, repeloma, chismosa, having a big mouth, questioning, carrying tales are all signs of being mal criada. In my culture they are all words that are derogatory if applied to women – I’ve ever heard them applied to men” (2947).
As showed in the film, Latino American often misrepresented and underrepresented both in front of and under the camera. American Hispanic often portrayed as lazy, unintelligent, greasy and criminal. Hispanic women often pictured comfortable sexuality as prostitution in film production; while Hispanic actors limit to criminal characters such as drug dealers, gangster, and provide the power for the white American. Audiences have less interaction with Latino in their real world might be easily framed by media images regarding the race and ethnicity. The lack of Hispanic history and culture understanding allows these media portrayals to change and form unfavorable behavior and attitude against Latino communities.
Only 4% of Hispanics make up the cast of prime-time television shows, a miniscule amount considering that Hispanic-Americans are the largest minority group in the US. The ways in which minorities are portrayed in the show have their good aspects as well as bad aspects. This is to be expected since showing all good points or all the bad points isn't a fair perspective of the Latino population. As a show that points out a minority, its necessary to look as the good as well as the bad to find if it is actually a optimistic view of the race or a pessimistic one.
Print. The. Fernandez, Lilia. "Introduction to U.S. Latino/Latina History. " History - 324 pages.
Judith Ortiz Cofer writes about her experiences as a Puerto Rican woman. She explains how she understands the English language well and travels as far as she can, but somehow, the island follows her. People view her as a Latin Woman, and nothing past that. As a girl, she learned to “behave like a proper señorita” (Cofer), but her mother confused her by encouraging a mature look. This illustrates how in society, women are taught to cover up and dress modest, yet society also says to look sexy and feminine. This brings me to my point,words and connotations are powerful. The words ‘sexy’ and ‘feminine’ have sexual connotations to them, so does the word ‘Latina’. In the media, when a celebrity is the topic, for instance Jennifer Lopez, the words ‘hot’ or ‘fierce’ are often associated with her. Why can’t a caucasian celebrity like Jennifer Lawrence be hot? “Mixed cultural signals have perpetuated certain stereotypes—for example, that of a Hispanic woman as the “Hot Tamale” or sexual firebrand...In their special vocabulary, advertisers have designated “sizzling” and “smoldering” as the adjectives of choice for describing not only foods but also the women of Latin America” (Cofer). Words are influential. Throughout the years, language controls the way society sees different races and genders. For example, the word ‘nigger’ is just a word without the meaning behind it,
Although our society is slowly developing a more accepting attitude toward differences, several minority groups continue to suffer from cultural oppression. In her essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldúa explores the challenges encountered by these groups. She especially focuses on her people, the Chicanos, and describes the difficulties she faced because of her cultural background. She argues that for many years, the dominant American culture has silenced their language. By forcing them to speak English and attempting to get rid of their accents, the Americans have robbed the Chicanos of their identity. She also addresses the issue of low self-esteem that arises from this process of acculturation. Growing up in the United States,
Unfortunately, when you evaluate Hispanic women most likely they did not go to college, or even graduate high school. There may be many factors that determine their circumstance. For instance, they get pregnant and drop out. There may be a lack of motivation to go to school. They might get married at an early age. Even the nature of the culture may play a role, like making it seem it is okay not to go to college or finish high school. Or sometimes they may not have a role model to encourage them to do better. All these factors may be the cause of this circumstance, but it doesn’t have to always be the excuse. As a high school senior, I have noticed more and more pregnant girls; most of them Hispanic. Many of thes...
Martínez, Elizabeth Sutherland. 1998. De Colores Means all of us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century. U.S.: South End Press.
Why are all the maids in the show Latinas? Almost all of the people working for the wealthy Beverly Hills families are of Hispanic decent, portraying the most typical negative stereotypes through characteristics, like incredibly strong accents, financial problems, slutty or sexual women who have affairs, illegal immigrants and even criminals. Not only do we see these characteristics being portrayed, but we also notice how the wealthy and powerful characters of the show manipulate, mistreat and disrespect these Hispanic maids, making their ethnicity the focal point of the
Kanellos, Nicolás, Felix M- Padilla, and Claudio Esteva Fabregat, eds. Handbook of Hispanic Cultures in the United States: Sociology. Houston: Arte Publico Press, 1994. Print.
In “I Want to Be Miss America,” Julia Alvarez examines her adolescent struggle to be “American.” For Alvarez, her Hispanic culture becomes a burden to her inclusion in American society. So, Alvarez and her sisters, struggle to become what they are not, Americans. Alvarez uses a somewhat biased stereotype to identify the model of an ideal American, but she does make clear. The struggle of all American teenagers to fit into or molded by a standard which for many of them is impossible to achieve.
In the case of discriminating and judging people based on their looks, history has not changed in the past five centuries. In William Shakespeare’s play “Othello,” Othello is respected for his status as military general for the Venetian army and his stance while he is discriminated for his looks and race -a commonality of the time as the Moors were not accepted by society. This eventually led to the demise of Othello and his “falling” into society’s perceptions. Similarly, because of the media portrayal and our looks, hispanic females in today’s American society are both dominating for the “spicy latina” and as a symbol of sex and “spiciness” for “spicy latina.” As a result of these “spicy latina” portrayals, Latina women are put in a position where it is expected for them to dress and act the way they are portrayed in the media.
The idea that a woman’s job is to be a wife and mother is old-fashioned, but not completely out of style. Though these roles require a great deal of talent, resilience, patience, love, and strength, to name a few, they are often underestimated or depicted as simple. Especially in modern times, many women in the United States who stay home to raise a family are viewed as anti-feminists, whereas women in Latin America are not criticized for similar actions. In recent decades, more Latin American women have started to break the mold, daring to be both sexy, and successful in the workforce, while remaining pillars of domestic life.
The eternal endeavor of obtaining a realistic sense of selfhood is depicted for all struggling women of color in Gloria Anzaldua’s “Borderlands/La Frontera” (1987). Anzaldua illustrates the oppressing realities of her world – one that sets limitations for the minority. Albeit the obvious restraints against the white majority (the physical borderland between the U.S. and Mexico), there is a constant and overwhelming emotional battle against the psychological “borderlands” instilled in Anzaldua as she desperately seeks recognition as an openly queer Mestiza woman. With being a Mestiza comes a lot of cultural stereotypes that more than often try to define ones’ role in the world – especially if you are those whom have privilege above the “others”.
The Latino women and girls in the novel are extremely concerned about their appearances, because they feel that if they aren't attractive then they won't be noticed by men, and they are raised to believe that they need a man to fulfil their life, and that they need a husband to support them, and if they don't look attractive then they are not going to be noticed, and if they are not noticed, then they think they won't end up getting married. A good example of this is Marin. When Marin talks about a real job Marin says that the best place to work is downtown, not because of the work that is there, but because "you always get to look beautiful and were nice clothes." She also tells the girls that the only thing that matters is if your skirts are short, and your eyes are pretty, so that you are noticed by guys.