A new study by ‘Columbia University‘ has claimed that Latinos are “mostly-ignored or stereotyped” in English-language Film or TV, with Latin-Americans unlikely to score leading roles secured by actors of other racial demographics.
Full story below…
Billed “The Latino Media Gap: A Report on the State of Latinos in U.S. Media”, the report found that while 50 million Latinos living in the US make up 17% of its population, not a single Latin-American actor nabbed a leading role among the top 10 movies and scripted network TV shows in all of 2013.
It shared:
With few exceptions,Latino participation in mainstream English-language media is stunningly low. A review of the top movies and television programs reveals that there is a narrower range of stories and roles, and fewer Latino lead actors in the entertainment industry today than there were 70 years ago. Likewise, whereas the Latino population grew more than 43% from 2000 to 2010, the rate of media participation behind and in front of the camera, and across all genres and formats, stayed stagnant or grew only slightly, at times proportionally declining.
‘Deadline’ adds:
The report found that from 2010-2013, Latinos comprised none of the top 10 TV show creators, 1.1% of producers, 2% of writers, and 4.1% of directors. Among top 10 movies, Latinos accounted for 2.3% of directors, 2.2% of producers, and 6% of writers. Even more dramatic, no Latinos currently serve as studio heads, network presidents, CEOs, or owners.
Indeed, as of 2013, only one Latina among the Top 53 execs in all of English-language broadcasting, despite major moves on radio by ‘KPWR‘s Yesi Ortiz and the rise of Dascha Polanco, recently bumped to season regular on the ‘Netflix’ series ‘Orange is the new Black.’
The report’s conclusion?
On television and movies, Latinos continue to be represented primarily as criminals, law enforcers, and cheap labor,” according to the report. “From 2012 to 2013, 17.7% of Latino film characters and 24.2% of TV characters were linked to crime, a considerable increase from 1994, when it was only 6% on television … Equally important, 69% of iconic media maids in film and television since 1996 are Latina.
Touchy subject indeed.
I do however believe in Equal Opportunity… But you have to expect some kind of discrimination and favoritism ESPECIALLY in TV & Film roles
I don’t blame you for having such a defeatist attitude seeing as you ARE A cIARA STAN.
Keri I don’t know what a plat album is hilson stan be gone
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That’s because most roles are written by white writers who are only familiar with the stereotypes. A Latin writer wouldn’t write a stereotypical role for an actor in the same way a black writer wouldn’t write a stereotypical role for a black actor. Look at Shonda and Kerry in Scandal.
Blacks and Latinos should focus more on school imatead of being hood and “cool”, then they c ould write netter parts for themselves. Problem solved.
Instead. … better
Are we really telling anyone to stay in scoop because you misspelled instead
and better
Devious maids ? But I get what he tryna say
You are a fool! Did you hear what you just said? Devious MAIDS!
MAIDS
MAIDS
MAIDS
MAIDS
MAIDS
That’s the worst possible example you could have given.
Spoken like a true fool. Devious Maids is the biggest part of the problem!
personally, I don’t think there’s a problem with devious maids because it tells a story based on reality. Though being a maid is not something prestigious, the reality is that there are many maids who are latino and there stories deserve to be told too, especially if those are the sort of women who served as inspiration.Besides the creator for DM is latino herself.
Devious Maids sis? I hope you’re joking.
I don’t think it’s intentional 2bh. I think most of the writers are white and the only time they think to cast someone who isn’t white is when they’re giving them a role they think is typically ethnic. So unless they decide that they want to cast a black or latina chick they won’t whereas white actresses can go and audition for any of the roles available.
Then it is intentional. If I say “I don’t want a Black or Latin girl or guy for this part” I am going out of my way to make sure they don’t get the part, that IS intentional.
I agree with your point about them only giving those roles to people from the same places as the characters they’ve written them for but it’s not right that the only time we see a Latin man on screen is when he’s playing a cassanova/ gang banger or a Latina girl is when she plays a spicy senorita.
Native Americans have it the worst.
That would be Black people dear. If we’re not drug addicts, criminals, hypersexual, broken or downtrodden we’re comedians. My homegirl spilled the truth tea when she said that you see ALL kinds of white people when you put on your TV, but how many different representations are there of black people.
If you see an African person on an American tv show they always have to have an accent or seem stern or rude as if there’s no such thing as an American born African with the same personality traits as the average person.
The African dude from OZ and the Haitian lady in OITNB literally have the same personality.
NA’s aren’t represented at all though.
It’s not a pissing contest
Like Maid in Manhattan
As a Latino actor and filmmaker I face this reality of marginalozation everyday. The lack of roles available for people of color and lack of real political topics in mainstream is what forced me to create my own films and stories.
Now that’s the spirit
Exactly! Good work!
I don’t know,it’s a sad state we live in but tbh,if you’re not getting opportunities you feel you deserve,look for like-minded individuals and create such opportunities.See a franchise like Motown Records.Gordy clearly saw African American musicians with enormous talent getting the short end of the stick and did something about it,it was during his initial success that other labels started prioritizing on their black acts,something they weren’t doing before.I hate seeing young,beautiful,talented,educated,smart,healthy people waiting for something they can easily create for themselves if they only embrace self-motivation.See the Indian and Nigerian film industry or the Mexican and Brazilian soap operas,they clearly made do with the little they had and whereas the quality of their products may be wanting at times,it’s clearly better than not doing anything at all.All one needs is relevant skill,determination,discipline and focus and you’re good to go
That’s because Americans wants to cast a Latino who looks typically like they imagine a Latino would look, peoplel Salma Hayek are the example they focus, black hair, olive skin, ect, other Latinas don’t have that image so they chances to have a role are little even as a Latina, examples: Paulina Rubio, Luz Garcia, Ana Paula Arosio, Valeria Mazza or Gabriela Spanic would never be on a film based on a Latina story, because they don’t have the Latino look that Americans wants, Latin people are not a race, there’s so much diversity, Americans are just ignorant, hence, almost all Americans think that all Latinos are/looks like the average Mexican.
I love Gabriela Spanic…There’s another one called Lucero,my favorite
Mariah Carey is the queen.
Lol,You are one hot boiling mess
Mariah is Hispanic too.
Well she is fat like a extra stuffed burrito
What about Asians?
Bingo, biggest absence in US media.
Sam did this article cause J-Lo was talking about this in her interviews last week. She has a new Latino tv channel. He has to kiss that J Lo a$$.
I think it’s wrong that white TV/film writers are allowed to create superficial minority characters. There’s no accountability to make whites either do their research or hire more minority writers. The other side of that, unfortunately, is that we have black writers who waste huge opportunities writing a bunch of coonery and making really dumb mistakes.
I find a big reason behind this is because people only write what they know…or in this case, don’t know.
What I mean is, that most writers in hollywood are white american men. So, who are they going to write about? That’s right, white american men…they will then stereotype minorities…Now if they were to write a strictly Latino story, or a story with a Latino in the lead, they would either 1 be told they are not aloud to do so, or two they would be questions as to why they are doing so in the first place…
My way of combating this is to suggest minorities write their own stories, instead of expecting hollywood to step in and do it for them. ???