Latinx Film Analysis

For my cultural activity, I watched a Spanish-language movie with English subtitles in order to better understand the film. The purpose of this paper is to express my reactions concerning the Puerto Rican film Casi Casi. In summary, Casi Casi is a high school romantic comedy about a boy who runs for Student Council President who is attracted to a girl who also decides to run against him. At the beginning of the film, my initial reaction was that the film was going to be very difficult to view and interpret due to the fact that it was produced in a foreign language that I am not fluent in.

So for now people will just have to settle for a some movies a year that involve different races. In a interview with Mellisa castellanos, Carlos pratts also said “There will always be stories for latinos and latinas but I think the stories now are changing for the better.” Our world is still developing and this isn't a perfect world. However if this was a perfect world if the world was perfect then it would be boring. If our world was perfect everybody would only like certain things which would be the only things people like.

roles would be lost to Caucasian actors so as to resonate with American audiences. It is

Author Scott L. Baugh has examined the role of Latino Americans in the movies, and he explains that there "…remains the uneven balance of power among characters," in particular with reference to Latino "subordinate characters" that tend to be portrayed as "stereotypes" (Baugh, 2012, p. 259). Early films (in the late 19th century and early 20th century) depicted a very "simple hierarchy," in which the heroes and main characters were white and held positions of "leadership and agency" (Baugh, 259). Latino characters were "secondary" to those main white characters, and Latino characters tended to be the villains, Baugh explained.

According to the movie The Bronze Screen, I understand that the Spanish people started acting in US cinema and specifically in Hollywood from early 20th century. The Spanish cinema started with black and while movie. At the first they act with just Spanish representative, because they want control the American cinema and precisely Hollywood. The Spanish movie was in the first representation without the voice. After that they added the voice. The Mexican movies was increased in Hollywood cinemas because American people like it. However the Mexican actor was good with acting. Hollywood films was increased their Mexican market after the Spanish people participated in the American cinema. Also the people who watching Spanish movies was increased. After that Hollywood America has introduced representatives of the participating representatives Spanish and this was new to the world of cinema reserve America and some people surprise of the piece. Also this changed the way of the Hollywood cinemas also came a new world of movies and actors that is good for the Hollywood cinemas. To conclude that I thing the Spanish movies is good before and now because it give new ideas for movies and the new world of cinema, also a new color for All cinemas.

The Latina women, even throughout the era resistance cinema, have not been able to make much progress in overcoming the degrading stereotypes that Hollywood has created for them. Despite the many advances that minorities have made in the cinema in recent years, Latina actresses still take on the roles of the "dark skinned lady" and other such stereotypes with strong sexual connotations. It is often debatable whether or not the role of the Latina has undergone dramatic changes since the days of Dolores Del Rio and Carmen Miranda dancing with the fruit baskets on top of their heads. However, in recent years there has been an emphasis by various Latinas in the film industry to combat such stereotypical roles and redefine themselves

In the essay The Myth of the Latin Women, Judith Ortiz Coffer, an educated women and from Latin descent, elicits imagery of stereotyping in Hollywood movies and contrasts stereotypes to real life through diction in order to get society to feel guilty for assuming how they act, and ultimately changings society's views on Latina women. First, Coffer portrays imagery of Latina women in Hollywood movies in order to get society to feel embarrassed for judging Latina women so quickly. Take, for example, how Coffer stating "The big and little screens have presented us with the picture of the funny Hispanic maid, mispronouncing words and cooking up a spicy storm in a shiny California kitchen. " This would cause society to realize the effects of stereotyping

Hollywood does not portray Latinos very often and when it does, it typically presents them in a predictable and unfavorable way. Latinas have always been stereotyped as loud, curvaceous sex symbols. Latinas should be known for their acting skills not for being trophy wives and having amazing bodies. Hollywood shouldn’t have the media believe that all Latinas are the same when in fact they are all different. Latinas should be offered roles that have a positive impact not only in the Latin community but in Hollywood as well.

Listing the movies or programs that has been extremely popular such as Maid in Manhattan, Spanglish and Family Guy. These three program all share the stereotypical that was strongly presented. For example, they all happen to a single mother raising a child, speaks in Spanish accent and their appearance. They all have black hair, caramel skin tone and a sassy attitude. This exactly proves my point, as I said earlier, these directors all have the same perception of Latinas.

Gregory Nava is a Mexican filmmaker who was born on April 10, 1949, in San Diego California. As a former UCLA alumni, Nava has produced several racially and culturally charged films that often break new grounds such as, El Norte, Mi Familia, and Bordertown. Thus, Nava dedicates his filmmaking career to give his audience a distinct point of view which is the central thread of his films and that which encompasses the Latino culture, experience, and their unjust treatment in America as oppressed minorities; with the hope of counteracting false stereotypes, misconceptions, promoting education, compassion, and acceptance of minorities. Nava does this by redefining the traditional labels of who the “insiders” and “outsiders” of society are, he also puts Latinos in the position of subjects through whose eyes the audience, experience plots, and who speak for themselves instead of being perceived voyeuristically by characters from outside the Latino community, and by incorporating what Nava describes as “dream realism” aspects to his films (Johnson, 2009).

There is an unmistakable lack of diversity in Hollywood. There are much more white actors to actors of color. In a study of 800 films from 2007-2015 Smith et al found that non-minorities outnumbered minorities 3 to 1 for film leads (2). This statistic contrasts with the current diversity of America. Per Darnell Hunt, 40 percent of Americans are in a minority (Hunter-Gault). These statistics should be the same. Hollywood needs to address and fix the lack of diversity.

These filmmakers allowed their views of Mexican society to influence their films. This is Cleary seen in Alejandro Gonalez Ifiarritu’s 2000 acclaimed film Amores Perros, which involves violence, corruption, dog fighting, and many feel these “observations make clear that Amores Perros can be made to render serious social commentary.” It has even been stated that “no film had matched the international commercial success of Like Water for Chocolate before Amores Perros.” This displays how the film was very successful at reaching a global audience. Alfonso Cuaron’s 2001 masterpiece, Y Tu Mama Tambien, which focused on a road trip taken throughout the outskirts of Mexico, and surveying many problems facing the country. Many viewers see the film as offering “various perspectives from which to advance a critique of social and political problems that have long plagued Mexico.” The acclaim that these filmmakers would receive for these films were seen by many as, “marking the resurgence of the independent Mexican film industry.” These two films were also the first to “repeat the commercial success of Like Water for Chocolate,” which proved the Mexican cinema could sustain its profitability and success. It is for these reasons that many see this period as being one of the most important and successful in Mexican Cinema history, and saving it from what was seen as an almost certain

Reaching Out in Spanish - Studio marketers have learned that Hispanic moviegoers tend to buy tickets in particularly large groups; if you hook one family member, you can get an exponential result. To achieve that goal, Disney teamed with Univision for a five-week stunt that brought “Jungle Book” characters and clips to telenovelas, talk shows and sports coverage. Disney even built a tool to allow Univision personalities to appear in

Movies have depicted Hispanics as humorous buffoons, lazy peasants, and vicious bandits. The Hollywood motion pictures seem to ignore the positive impact of Hispanics to the American culture and life. The directors cast Mexicans for the roles of vile screen villains who rob, murder, cheat, gamble, among other vices. The films also show Hispanic women as temptresses or senioritas, which translates into dependent, unintelligent, feeble, and passive individuals.

Hess and Zimmermann mention that conventional categories have blurred and there’s demands for new political and aesthetic responses in transnational cinema (John Hess 2006). These transnational films I believe would be growing significantly in the film industry as a part of film history.