Essay on Stereotypes of Hispanic Women in Cinema

Women in the Hispanic culture grow up with strong ties to their values, norms and how they were raised by their families. Parents instill a “machismo” and familism ideology into the upbringing of these women (Fuchsel, 2012). “Machismo” is a term to describe what is acceptable and expected of men (Fuschel,2012). Familism is, “the subordination of the personal interests and prerogatives of an individual to the values and demands of the family” (dictionary.com). An example of “machismo” is that it is not seen as a problem for men to be unfaithful (Fuschel, 2012). Women would continue to stay with the men, because of the strong sense of familism and not wanting to break the family apart (Fuschel,2012). Also, the strong tie to family makes it difficult to express the troubles in a marriage, because family may be unwilling to help (Fuschel,2012). Machismo and familism affect Hispanic women in their day-to-day lives and how they approach marriages and relationships (Fuschell,2012).

Along with chiaroscuro, lighting a dark weather, the femme fatale is one of the main traits of film noir. It is the femme fatale that excites and draws in the audience.

I was once told I had the world in my hands by my vice principal. The reason for his statement was because I was a Hispanic young woman with above average grades, and my involvement in extracurricular activities. Why was being a Hispanic young woman so much more special? This is where the harsh reality set in; Hispanic women have the tendency to not achieve their goals.

In contemporary film women's roles in films have varied quiet considerably between genres, geographical placement, and between

Reports show that Latinos are the most underrepresented ethnic group in film affected by stereotypical issues shown via pictures in our heads and through watching. I concur with this information as stereotype starts from a personal level, which is definite through meditation, this does not include all the negative traits portrayed by the out-group. Although we have some general stereotypical agreements within in-groups that cannot change. This stereotyping is evident in a case where a foreigner defines Bandido accurately while a (North) American will involve them with laziness, being dirty and all sorts of negativity on them. These findings make me feel that Latinos and Americans will always be contrary to their film industry.

The hispanic culture has many diverse, interesting, and unique views when it comes to the topic of death, dying, ghosts, and funeral arrangements. Because hispanic culture has many influences from not only modern day religious beliefs like the dominant religion of Roman Catholicism but also from ancient religions and culture such as the Maya and Aztec there is often times a mixed view on death. Similarly, because of the diversity in the history of hispanic culture there are many different cultural influences such as holidays like El dia de los muertos and long held folklore that makes the topic of death and dying in the hispanic culture very interesting.

In those early portrayals, the "privileged non-Latina woman" was often "lured into the sensual exoticism of a caddish Latino philanderer," Baugh continues (259). More recently, the author suggests, filmmakers have attempted to present Latino identities as less stereotypical characters. There are characters that would not likely be revered by the greater Latino community in the United States, but nonetheless Baugh believes

Michelle Silva is a hardworking student who only strives for greatness. She’s an A student who pushes herself to be her best in and out of school. April 21, 2017, will forever go down as a day to remember. It's the day Michelle went to receive a prestigious award. A couple months ago she wrote an essay for the 100 Hispanic women scholarship and recently she found out she won it. All her hard work and efforts finally paid off. The joy she felt of knowing she was one of the four winners filled her heart with pride.

In 2013, Latinos accounted for only 4.9% of the roles in the top 100 films of the year. From the beginning, Hollywood had always been dominated by white men and women. However, as time progressed there was a very slight change in cultural and ethnic diversity. Though it is more likely now than ever to find a Latino or Latina in a Hollywood film, their roles are often small, stereotypical, and almost entirely unimportant. As if it wasn’t hard enough to get any role in any Hollywood film regardless of ethnicity, Latinos have to endure playing a harshly demeaning role. Latino men are often cast as comedic relief and play gardeners, janitors, or thugs. Latino women are often cast as maids or mistresses. Aside from this, when women are cast as mistresses they are often submissive to their white male partners, meaning that not only are these roles ethnically demeaning, but also sexist. Along with Latino female sexualisation, though, Latino men are also heavily sexualized. Both Latino women and men have to deal with the exploitation of their culture for stereotypical roles in a movie. However, these are only some of the vicious patterns that attribute to the everlasting ethnic misrepresentation in the biggest part of mass media, Hollywood.

From the late 1800's to the 1960's, Puerto Ricans began to rise to recognition as a dominating influence, creating chaos in American society. This comment is based on the immigration of Puerto Ricans to America, and the problems it caused.

Babygirl (2012) that examines the complex relationship between mother and daughter, Lucy and Lena and the men that pursue them romantically, Victor and Xavier. In the film, Lena is forced to watch her mother engage in relationship after relationship with unsuitable men, the last of which is Victor, who not only has a thing for Lucy, but also pursues a relationship with Lena. Additionally, Lena is shown to be pursued by Xavier, a younger boy that is around her age. The film depicts Latinos both stereotypically and realistically.

Blaxploitation, a sub-genre of Exploitation, becomes fairly popular with Hollywood Cinema during the 1960’s and 1970’s. These films initially targeted urbanized youth and began to appeal to African Americans as well as White audiences. However, various groups, such as the Coalition Against Blaxploitation, formed to stop production on films of this genre as it typically portrayed Blacks in a negative way. Generally, there are two different interpretations of Blaxploitation films. One being that these films empower blacks and the more accepted idea that these films further stereotype blacks with the inclusion of pimps, sex, drugs, crime and more. Due to the huge protests against the films, the movement died in the late 1970’s(Negative Effects of the Blaxploitation Movement.); however, Boyz N’ the Hood, produced by John Singleton in 1991, represents a resurgence of Blaxploitation, referred to as “neo-blaxploitation” which reflects the stereotypical interpretation of a blaxploitation film. (Fancher)

Since the 1940’s, movies have predominately portrayed women as sex symbols. Beginning in the 1940’s and continuing though the 1980’s, women did not have major roles in movies. When they did have a leading role the women was either pretreated as unintelligent and beautiful, or as conniving and beautiful: But she was always beautiful. Before the 1990’s, men alone, wrote and directed all the movies, and the movies were written for men. In comparison, movies of the 90’s are not only written and directed by women, but leading roles are also held by older and unattractive women. In this paper I will show the variations and growth of women’s roles in movies from the 1940’s though the 1990’s.

The earths inhabited by all kinds of people and all these people have different personalities, styles, and cultures that make living o this planet worthwhile. Unfortunately, movie makers especially Hollywood, cannot seem to get the memo. Ethnic groups or people of color (POC) have to fight for roles and representation in the movie industry. Whitewashing is term used to call out films that replaced POC characters with white actors and actresses. David Vaccari, a casting director perfectly described how the industry thinks. He stated that movie makers are just trying to get their money’s worth. The vision for how the movie will be is there but if ethnicity and reality of the story need have sacrificed for the sack of business, they will do it (Fisher).

Right from the beginning, these two click in spite of the fact that what appears to be a mild subterfuge keeps them from revealing exactly who and what they are. Jack has nothing but trouble due to his chosen profession (nurse), and Katherine is always under her father's thumb (albeit sometimes unwillingly). Both are tired of searching for true love, but it is thanks to their best friends and co-workers that a simple falsehood is told to an online dating service. Harmless, right? The antics that follow are so much fun to savor on the screen--everything from bowling ball injuries to mistaken identity and so much more.