Representation !

1.  Describe a group, issue, or event that you may want to represent within your project.  

In my project I would like to delve into the representation of Latinos. Although my partner and
I have not come to a conclusion on what exactly we want our film opening to be about we have
discussed making it a love story hopefully with an ethic lead.

To be Latino you must be from Latin descent meaning you come from central or south America.
Many people get confused with Hispanic vs Latino but it is actually quite easy to distinguish, to be
Hispanic you must be from a Spanish speaking country therefore, someone from Spain is Hispanic and
not Latino, someone from Brazil is Latino and not Hispanic and someone from Mexico is both Latino
and Hispanic.

Some people have found that the word Latino is too gendered since it ends in the masculine “o” whereas
the feminine version is Latina ending in “a.” So how do you refer to a group of people of different
genders who are from central and south America? People have opted for the term “Latinx,”  it is gender
neutral and can also be used to refer to someone who does not identify with a binary gender.

2.  Analyze two examples within the media of how this group, issue or event is already represented.  

My first example of Latinos in the media is Sofia Vergara’s character, Gloria, in “Modern Family.”
Gloria is one of the most stereotypical Latino written characters in television today.  She is a loud
and family-oriented lady who is sexy and curvy. She has a heavy accent that is sometimes a
communication barrier for those around her. The other characters in the show sometimes think
she is not as intelligent as them but this is because she cannot express herself in English as easily
as is able to in Spanish, this obviously frustrates Gloria as it minimizes her as an educated human.

Another way Gloria represents Latinos is that she married rich so she could continue to live her
“expensive lifestyle,” if you watch the show you will know that Gloria really does love her husband
Jay but, at first glance this may not be easy to tell since Jay is much older than Gloria so she appears
as a “gold digger.”

My next example focuses on the gang or thug aspect of Latino representation. In the movie “West Side
Story” it focuses on two rival gangs a Caucasian one and a Puerto Rican one. Representation like
this is extremely harmful to Latinos because people believe what they consume and in this movie they
are consuming the fact that all Latinos are dangerous and do not abide by the law. This stereotypes
also does not effectively showcase the entire Latino population. “West Side Story” also emphasizes
the Latino need to immigrate to the United states for “better opportunities” in this case Latinos are
shown as low status and almost dirty in comparison to “real Americans” “West Side Story” perpetuates
the stereotype that Latinos who speak broken English are awful criminals who need to invade the U.S..

Other television shows and films that criminalize Latinos include: “Orange is the New Black,”
“Mi Vida Loca,” and “American Me”

3.  How do you feel about these representation characteristics?  Are they fair? Correct?

When someone thinks of Latinos in the media there are a few words that generally come to mind:
loud, uneducated, sexy. And, although these are subjective to whether those terms are “good” or
“bad” it is safe to say that those terms are one dimensional and cannot account for every individual
in an entire ethnicity. Obviously there are some Latino people who are loud in fact there are many
Latinos who are loud but, being loud and talking “weird” is not a personality.

Western media has the tendency to depict Latinos as alien and bad, of course there are a few
exceptions to this the movie “Coco” has excellent representation and celebration of Latino
culture, the Netflix show “One Day at a Time” is another show that celebrates and normalizes
the idea of Latinos simply doing things so does the musical “In the Heights,” who’s writer, Lin
Manuel Miranda, created the show to be able to showcase a variety of different Latinos living
their everyday lives that are not any different to anyone else’s life.

For some reason Latinos do not have many “good” characteristics that are represented in the
media.There is not one ethnicity of race that has a trait which can be attributed to its entire
population whether the trait is good or bad. Every person is unique with their own flaws. As a
Latina myself I find it very special when a Latino gets quality representation in the media.

4.  Which representation characteristics would you retain?  Which would you challenge?

I hope to challenge many of the representation characteristics of Latinos in my film opening. My
Latino character will definitely not be involved in a gang of any sort. They will be educated and will
not be subjected to being the maid.

The casting has not been chosen yet for the film opening so whether the person who is casted has an
accent or not will not be a deciding factor of the final casting decision. The same goes for whether they
are loud or not. The same goes for the character's body type.

In summation the representation characteristics that my partner and I chose to depict in our film
opening will not depend on the ethnicity of the character but rather the personality of the
character. So there are no characteristics that I will “retain” aside from maybe the idea that
Latinos are sexy/attractive because if it is a romance film the leads will most likely be
conventionally attractive to fit with the genre representation.

-Andrea :)