Effects of Hispanic/Latino Portrayal in the Media
Media can expose us to new viewpoints that we may have never known about, which is why I enjoy movies and TV because I like being able to see where people are coming from and how their experiences have shaped who they are. However, something that has always bothered me is how poorly film and TV directors have portrayed Hispanics/Latinos, if at all. Despite being the fastest growing population in the United States, Latino actors only make up 4.6% of U.S. movie roles, and 5.3% of broadcast TV roles, according to a longitudinal trend study done by UCLA. Not only that, but on the rare occasion that this group is represented, they often hold stereotypical roles such as criminals, law enforcers, cheap labor workers, and hypersexualized beings.
Gerbner’s Cultivation Theory says that, “TV is a significant source of ideologies, values, assumptions, beliefs and images that shape our social reality” (Sparks). Even though cultivation theories don’t necessarily prove causality, negative or stereotypical views of Hispanics/Latinos are shown to have a positive correlation with how viewers perceive the population in general. Experimental research was done to show this effect in 2012, with a convenience sample of 3,000 non-Latino citizens. One group was asked to watch, read, or listen to a stimuli that portrays Hispanics/Latinos in a positive light. The second group did the same with a negative message, the placebo group watched an unrelated clip and the control group received no media messaging. They then completed surveys asking questions about how they perceive Latinos. The research indicated that people who received a positive media message had “much lower negative stereotype beliefs” and “exposure to just ONE negative cue” led the participants to be more likely to view Hispanics/Latinos as criminals, as illegal immigrants and as people whose families are too large. If media consumers continue to be heavily exposed to these messages, first-order cultivation can occur where they can gradually come to believe that depictions in the media world resemble the real world.
Upon thinking about this issue, and Hispanic/Latinx actors and actresses who I can name off of the top of my head are Jennifer Lopez, Sofía Vergara, Michael Peña and J.R. Ramirez. Lopez has often played very seductive roles in various romance films and Vergara is known to be hypersexualized in the popular sitcom, Modern Family. I recall Peña as being the “best friend” to Ant-Man and playing various police officer roles like in Shooter. A popular show on Netflix right now, Manifest, features Ramirez, who is also a police officer. These last two examples represent the theory that Latino actors are seen as more “favorable” on TV when they are part of a “multicultural anti-crime force.” Many of these examples are what many Americans would recall about popular Hispanic/Latinx actors and actresses. Interestingly enough, they also match the stereotypes referenced in the study.
One of the only films that comes to my mind when I think about positive representation of the Hispanic/Latino community is In the Heights, which focuses on the neighborhood of Washington Heights, New York where each member is in pursuit of a dream for a better life. The film represents characters from a wide array of characters from Hispanic and Latin American countries and exhibits the vibrancy and uniqueness of these communities and the importance of a family foundation. To me, this film captured what it means to be part of these groups without it being seen as “other” or “second” to the White American’s way of life.
In order to begin reversing the effects of these negative stereotypes, the film industry needs to recognize that accurate representation matters to consumers. If Hispanic/Latino actors are constantly being put into a box, society is more likely to misunderstand them. To represent this group more accurately, the industry can start by hiring more diverse directors and writers who understand the culture for themselves. This will connect with the Hispanic/Latino audience in ways that have not been discovered yet and will increase consumer engagement with Latinx culture and innovation, hopefully one day closing the media gap. We can no longer go on making American films and TV shows that don’t fully embrace all that America is.
