Group items tagged

""Latinos are either cast as either the overly hormonal ("Oh mamacita, I have to have you"), overly hysterical ("Lucy!"), overly hostile ("I'll cut you sucka!"), or overly humble ("We are a poor people")," Morales told CNN in a recent interview. Those, according to Morales, are the "four H's of Hollywood" that make up Hollywood's patronizing formula for Latino actors. And, Morales said, it's the reason why Hispanics rarely play heroes or leaders."

"An introductory assignment may ask students to think about representations of different social groups in the fictional TV shows, films and books that have shaped their lives. For example, at the beginning of the semester, I will give students an assignment titled "The Stories in Your Life" with the following list, and ask them to think of characters from these social groups that are represented in their favorite stories (this list of groups corresponds with the chapters in the textbook Diversity in U.S. Mass Media): African Americans, Native Americans, Latino Americans, Arab Americans, Asian Americans, teenagers, elderly people, people with disabilities, wealthy people, impoverished people, LGBTQ, and women. When we come together as a class and discuss their lists, the students have typically made some startling yet obvious discoveries: there may be no characters in a certain group, or the characters might be one-dimensional stereotypes. They quickly have those lightbulb moments that will open their minds to deeper discussions about underrepresentation and misrepresentation in entertainment media. They often realize that more often than not, the stories in their lives ask them to identify with white males. This introductory step in media literacy education gives students the reflective and analytical tools to examine what media tells them about themselves and others."

"Yesterday, two events relating to institutional racism coincided and competed for headlines.  A federal judge ruled New York City's infamous stop-and-frisk policy unconstitutional because it amounted to racial profiling by targeting African-Americans and Latinos. And US Attorney General Eric Holder announced an end-run around "draconian" Congressional drug laws by ordering the Justice Department to discontinue aggressive pursuit of low-level, non-violent drug offenders."

"The history of television and film portrayals of people of color is pretty abysmal. Either we are not present, just in the background, stereotyped. Or we're cast as maids, gardeners, servants or the comic buffoon. In my lifetime, I have never been exposed consistently to characters who either look like me, act like me or reflect my reality of those around me. Notice I said consistently. There have been exceptions, but it seems we've had to wait patiently for portrayals that we recognize as being significant to our lives. So when a show like Vida comes around, it is worth taking time to examine what and who makes it worth watching."