Stereotypes of Latinos in the Media and their Effects on Latinos
Suheidy Carrasco
Concordia University
At first, I didn’t even understand the point of the movie. It just seemed like a
lot of fun to watch with all the music. And now I don’t know if this is what they
intended for us to see or not…but I don’t think the people who made the film
wanted us to figure out what they were really saying about Mexicans.–High
school Latino student quoted in (Boske 2011: 177).
We are constantly being bombarded by images and portrayals of groups of people in
films and on television. We get distracted with the colors, the singing, and the background music
of movies and television shows and we don’t realize the messages that the media is sending to all
of us. These portrayals of groups of people are many times wrong and stereotypical and the
audience is so distracted with all that goes on that they don’t notice these stereotypes and this
then becomes a problem because these stereotypes can shape their perceptions of the real world
and these perceptions can have serious negative effects. Racial minorities are not portrayed as
much in the media and when they are it is in a stereotypical way; this paper will focus on the
Latino population, although the effects of stereotypes can apply to many other minority
populations. In this paper I will examine how the media portrays Latinos in films, television, and
magazines, and explore the effects of the stereotypes of Latinos shown in popular mass media.
Stereotypes of Latinos
Studies continue to show that Latinos are misrepresented and underrepresented in the
media even though the Latino population is the fastest growing minority population in the U.S
(Parker and Chyng 2012). When Latinos are represented they are portrayed in a stereotypical
manner with stereotypical roles on television, movies, magazines, etc. A few of the stereotypical
characterizations of Latinos are: physically aggressive, verbally aggressive, sexually aggressive,
lack of intelligence, unkempt appearance, unprofessionally dressed, lazy, heavy accent, hottemper, dishonest, and provocative (Mastro 2005: 111). It is uncommon for Latinos to be shown
in business related positions, and it is very common for Latinos to be portrayed in family settings
(Seelig 2007: 70). According to a research study to examine the visual portrayals of
Hispanic/Latino models in magazines, few Latinos are represented in magazines and when they
are they are depicted in ads for grooming, retail, and are “disproportionately under-represented in
ads on medicine, travel, financial, computers, and technology,” so this means that not only on
television and films are Latinos misrepresented and under-represented but also in magazines
(Seelig 2007:78).
There are a number of stereotypical roles that Latinos are characterized as in films, tv
shows, and even in animated children’s films and shows. According to Berg (1990:294), there
are six Hollywood stereotypes of the Hispanic: el bandido, the halfbreed harlot, the male
buffoon, the female clown, the Latin lover, and the dark lady. The bandido, or bandit in English,
is the typical villain in films; he is violent, limited in intelligence, with a dirty appearance,
unshaven face, oily hair, and missing teeth (Berg 1990: 294).Today, the bandit stereotype is one
of the most common roles that Latinos portray on television; years ago he would be portrayed on
a horse but modern day he is driving a Porsche, his motivations are money, power and sexual
pleasure and is typically portrayed as a “drug dealer, rebel leader, corrupt dictator, or an inner
city young gang member” (Berg 1990:294). The male buffoon stereotype is that character that is
comical, simple minded, and he has difficulty mastering the English language; a good example
of this is Ricky Ricardo from “I Love Lucy” who is comical and sometimes acts childish
emotionally (Berg 1990:295). Another stereotypical character of Latinos is the Latin Lover that
is seducing, seductive, sensual, and sexually dangerous (Berg 1990:296).
Female stereotypical character roles typically are the halfbreed harlot and the female
clown; these two roles are normally portrayed as “lusty, hot tempered, a slave to her passions”
(Berg 1990: 295).The female clown is a Latin female that is controlled by her emotionalism and
inability to control her inner instincts (Berg 1990:295). And another stereotypical role is the dark
lady which is mysterious, aloof, and reserved which makes the Anglo Americans be fascinated
and attracted to her (Berg 1990: 296). According to Merskin, there are three categories in which
stereotypes of Latinas can be put into: cantina girl, faithful sacrificing senorita, and vamp
(2007:137). And again these three stereotypes are all related to some sexual interest and their
motivation is passion and sex.
Examples of Stereotypes on TV and in Children Films
An example of a stereotypical Latina role is the one of Gabrielle Solis in Desperate
Housewives, characterized by Eva Longoria. Desperate Housewives is a soap opera show with
comedy, and it consists of more than 21 million viewers (Merskin 2007: 134). The show is about
five attractive women living in middle to upper middle class neighborhood (Merskin 2007: 135).
Gabrielle Solis embodies the “hot Latina” stereotype, she is very sexy, sensual, and described as
promiscuous, sexually experienced, quick tempered, available, and risky (Merskin 2007: 138).
Gabrielle can be described in those ways because she married for economic reasons not for love,
she has an out of wedlock affair, and she basically repays her husband with sex when he buys her
something like a new car (Merskin 2007: 139). As I had mentioned earlier, Latinas are portrayed
as lusty and sexual and we can see this in Gabrielle Solis character on Desperate Housewives.
One other very interesting example of stereotypes in the media is the one of Latinos
being seen as deviant and outcasts which can be seen in many animated children movies such as
Happy Feet. The students from a high school were shown various clips film Happy Feet in a
research study to see how the participants understood the messages from this children’s animated
film (Boske 2011: 174). The film of Happy Feet is about penguins needing to have a “heartsong”
to be able to mate and attract a penguin of the opposite sex (Boske 2011: 172). There’s a couple
that has a baby penguin named Mumble who becomes the protagonist of the film; Mumble is
born physically different than the other penguins, and he cannot sing like other penguins but he
can tap dance (Boske 2011: 172). Because Mumble is different than the other penguins he is
excluded by his peers, his teachers believe he has special needs and aren’t able to help him
(Boske 2011: 172). Mumble becomes isolated from others and he does not complete school and
he leaves his Emperor penguin community and becomes friends with a group of penguins who
are identified as the “misfits” and they interact with each other in Spanish terms such as
“Amigo” which means friend, and they also speak with a Spanish accent (Boske 2011:172). This
group of penguin friends has very Latino names such as Ramon, Raul, Lombardo etc. and they
let Mumble join their “misfit” group (Boske 2011: 172).
The film Happy Feet, unfortunately portrays a sad reality of Latino youth who are
rejected by society, excluded, and overlooked. When I watched the film I never noticed any of
these portrayals of Latinos, but now that I think about it, I definitely see that Latinos are
portrayed in negative ways in a disguised manner. This film, like many others, uses the typical
stereotypes of Latinos such as Latinos are lazy so they drop out of school, Latinos are misfits
because they are physically different, and Latinos are outcasts because they speak in a different
language.
Reasons for Racial Stereotypes
If we go back to the history of the U.S, the Southwest states of the U.S were all Mexican
territory, but the Americans took it away, and ever since then Hollywood has exploited the image
of the Revolutionaries of Mexico and transformed them into the Bandit stereotypes (Parker and
Chyng 2012). For example Pancho Villa, who was in real life a “well-dressed general, highly
intelligent, and who had an ideology and purpose,” was portrayed in films as a drunk, madman,
somewhat goofy, and a criminal; as Charles Berg said “this depiction was distorting the image of
what it was to be a Mexicano” (Parker and Chyng 2012). So these negative stereotypes in films
were basically used to justify the taking of the land of Mexico, and what made the stereotypes
believable was that in real life Mexicans were mad and were trying to fight for the land that had
been taken away from them causing them to be aggressive and defensive, but this led for
Hollywood to portray them as Bandits (Parker and Chyng 2012). Now that bandit stereotype has
evolved to gang bangers, drug dealers, drug lords, violent urban criminals, and dictators (Parker
and Chyng 2012).
Before the 1980’s media in America was owned by more than 50 companies but now the
media is owned by 6 media corporations, and these six owners of these conglomerates are who
are controlling what we see on television and in films (Lutz 2012). These six media companies
are GE, News-Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, and CBS; and the CEO’s of these six media
companies are White males (Lutz 2012). Knowing that White males are who are making the
decisions of the culture industry and what and who gets put out there is an essential component
to learning why it is that Latinos are portrayed in stereotypical ways. According to Rivadeneyra,
“media not only shapes society’s understanding of race, but it is also influenced by the culture in
which it is created,” meaning that films and television portray what a race is like depending on
how that racial minority group is treated in that culture (2011:208). Mastro suggests that the
ways that Latinos are represented on television and films could be the mere consequence to how
real-world interactions occur (2005: 113). The dominant culture in the U.S is the White’s or the
WASP’s, and as said by Mastro, “Latino stereotypes persist because they fulfill important
identity needs for the dominant culture” and thus if Latinos continue to be portrayed in negative
ways, media and culture producers “reinforce the existing hegemony” (2005:113). It seems to be
a cycle in which media owners and producers display Latinos in a stereotypical manner which
then viewers from all different ethnicities and race watch and then they believe that what they are
seeing is true so then the stereotypes become reinforced in real life because the people adopt
attitudes based on their perceptions of Latinos stereotypes, which then all goes back to
displaying Latinos in the media in a way that they believe is real, which is stereotypical ways
which happen to be in a negative fashion.
Another reason that stereotypes continue to exist is because not only do the media owners
and producers decide what gets put out there but also how it is put out there and they leave no
other options for Latino actors. In the film “Latinos Beyond Reel,” Latino actors such as Yaney
Arias talked about how the scripts they receive for films tend to be the similar stereotypical
Latino role, which is that of some sort of criminal or the “hot Latina” if female (Parker and
Chyng 2012). A male actor described a time that he arrived on set and the director yelled “Hey,
how you doin’, so you’re the bad guy, you’re the bad guy and there is no way around it” (Parker
and Chyng 2012). So this basically means that the directors and producers leave them no choice
and don’t offer them any other roles, as an actor said “I need the job, so I have no choice”
(Parker and Chyng 2012). Also according to Rivadeneyra, the darker the skin the lower their
socioeconomic status and the lower status occupations they will have in the media (2011:209).
And this could be seen such as with Michelle Rodriguez from Fast and Furious, she has a darker
skin tone and she is portrayed way differently than the typical Latina, she is portrayed in more
action and more as a criminal or deviant (Parker and Chyng 2012). Either way, whether
Latino/as are darker skin toned or lighter they still are offered a limited amount of character roles
in the media, leaving them no choice but to have to portray these stereotypical Latinos, and
keeping the cycle going from production to consumption to belief and acceptance of the
stereotypes of Latinos.
Effects of Stereotypes
Latinos not being portrayed as much and in incorrectly ways in the media can cause for
Latinos viewers to think that Latinos as a whole are unimportant and can diminish their selfesteem (Rivadeneyra 2007: 263). Latinos can come to think that the way that they are portrayed
in the media is real and this can lead to them thinking negatively about their own group since
Latinos are mostly portrayed in negative ways in the media (Rivadeneyra 2007: 264). The
cultivation theory suggests that frequent media exposure can lead to beliefs that the real world is
similar to the images that the media portrays, thus this theory would predict then that individuals
that watch more television or films can believe these stereotypes of Latinos and behave
accordingly to them, so this can lower Latinos self-esteem as well (Rivadeneyra 2007: 264).
Evidence of this lies in the study done to find out if this was true and the study results showed an
association between Latino students self-esteem and television viewing but this is also found
between European American teens, something that was unique to Latinos was that the more
frequent they watched television the less confident they feel about their own social skills
(Rivadeneyra 2007:272). Adolescent Latinos may feel less positive about themselves because
they may be comparing themselves to the characters on television. This is similar to how females
are affected by television portrayals of how the female body should look like, and can have the
similar potential to harm the self-esteem and cause depression.
Another effect is that with the stereotypes comes a belief in what is being shown and
people don’t stop to think why a group of people may be portrayed in a way that is not realistic.
For example the halfbreed harlot stereotype of Latina females leaves it clear that there is no
motivation to what she does so that means “she is a prostitute because she likes the work, not
because economic forces have shaped her life” (Berg 1990:295). People become blinded to the
difficulties Latinos have in the U.S. to get ahead and so they judge them based off of what films
and television show about them which is that they are lazy, lacking intelligence, unprofessional,
dishonest, and criminals.
Other effects of stereotypes for Latinos is that they will begin to hide their Latino identity
so that they are not ridiculed or ostracized by their peers such as a participant in study of
analyzing Happy Feet, he said he was able to relate to Mumble (the penguin that didn’t fit in
because he couldn’t sing) because Mumble was different from others, and so was the participant
because he is “a dark skinned Mexican” and he tries to hide his accent (Boske 2011: 176). So
media messages such as in the film of Happy Feet can cause Latinos to lose their cultural identity
to not be outcast as Mumble was in the film for being different or simply because they don’t
want to be treated different by their peers because of what media says and shows about their
group.
Another effect is that structural violence occurs because of stereotypes in films, for
example media portrays Latinos with lack of dignity and deviant, which then causes for Latinos
to be disrespected and mistreated in their powerless jobs such as of maids, housekeepers,
gardeners, construction workers, etc, and Latinos in powerless jobs can’t do nothing about it
because they need their job (Parker and Chyng 2012). Also Latinas being portrayed as “hot,
highly sexual, and promiscuous” perpetuates the “dehumanizing and limited beliefs about Latina
morality and potentiality” (Merskin 2007: 148). This can have the potential to cause Latino/as to
have less opportunity to education and jobs because of what is believed about their morals and
values. Also the exaggerated accents, Latinos are forced to speak in films and television, serve as
“racialized markers” which mark the message that Latinos are less intelligent, different, and less
than rather than equal too someone with no accent (Parker and Chyng 2012). Latinos as well as
all other minorities are humans and equal to humans of higher social status, so being portrayed in
films and television with heavy accents implies that Latinos can’t speak the English language
and that they are dumb, which could also lead to lack of self-esteem because there are many of
Latinos who have come to the U.S and unfortunately they do not have the time and money to
take English classes to learn the language. Also if they learn it, they can be ridiculed because
there are many words that are hard to pronounce, and of course anyone who learns a new
language is not going to lose their accent they have spoken with their whole lives, but that does
not make them less of a person.
Stereotypes in general can affect the way we feel towards others and towards ourselves.
The images and stereotypes portrayed of Latinos can affect Latino’s self-concept and the way
that Latinos may feel about how others see them (Reyes and Rios 2007:6). Stereotypes can also
affect the way Latinos are viewed by everyone else. The media images “contribute to the
development of stereotypes about Latinos and attitudes toward them by others”(Mastro 2005:
125). This can lead for others to assume that since Latinos are “lazy” that must be why they
have a lower socioeconomic status, and thus as mentioned earlier, ignore the facts of the causes
for Latinos to be struggling with opportunities and jobs in the U.S. As mentioned in a
documentary, “media image stereotypes shape the perceptions of a population within the borders
of that entire country, so how Latinos are perceived is going to be the way they are treated” and
this treatment is mostly in negative ways (Parker and Chyng 2012).
Everything gets blamed on Latinos, the news media and reporting’s are constantly
showing Latinos in negative ways, they show all the bad things that happen with Latinos, they
focus on drugs, criminals, shootings, and border crossings (Parker and Chyng 2012). So no
wonder Latinos are affected in negative ways, Americans believe what films and television
shows portray them as and then the news reinforces their stereotypes and makes Latinos look
like the bad people. White people can even despise Latinos because the news makes it seem like
Latinos are taking their jobs and ruining the economy, some even said that “illegal Latinos are
taking the U.S and making it a 3rd world country” (Parker and Chyng 2012). This comment is
truly disgusting because it is not fair to Latinos to be struggling to survive in a country they are
hated in, and stereotyped against, and then victims of the worst hate crimes and then to also be
looked upon in such negative ways. Sadly, Latinos are currently being victims of hate, racism,
beaner hoppings, and fatal beatings. There is even a game called Border Patrol in which goal of
the game is to kill as much Mexicans that are illegally crossing the border, and the main
objective is to “keep them out at all costs” (Parker and Chyng 2012). There are videos on
YouTube that are called “How to kill a Beaner” and it shows White kids treating Mexicans in
disturbing ways and also killing them when the “Mexican” is jumping a fence (Parker and Chyng
2012). These videos and games are extremely disturbing and offensive to Latinos; there is
nothing that can justify these behaviors and games.
What could be done: Media Literacy
We cannot expect for the media to change the way minorities are portrayed to be a quick
fix and we cannot expect people to critically observe how their media is influencing the way they
perceive minority groups, if they don’t have media literacy. According to Boske, media literacy
in schools would help Latino/as understand how media portrays existing power relationships and
thus they will be able to look at the media and world from many perspectives and be able to
understand their own assumptions and values (2011: 168).
The high school students that were in the study to analyze media messages in Happy
Feet, demonstrated that media literacy has positive outcomes because they were able to see the
film in a different way and analyze what was being said about Latinos. As discussed earlier, the
“misfit” penguin group has characteristics of Latinos meaning that they represented Latinos in
the film. These high school students described the film as a “portrayal of the lived experiences of
Latino youth,” and they questioned why Latinos are shown as if they were all the same and as if
they were all school dropouts (Boske 2011: 174). One participant added that she was concerned
for the way that Latinos are portrayed in the media, and that she noticed the positions of power
because the Emperor Penguins had an Irish or British accent and they were the penguins in
power, while the “misfits” had a Spanish accent; the participants recognized a racial hierarchy,
and associated “Whiteness with Superiority” (Boske 2011: 174). To put it in a participant’s
words, she said that “It’s like the Emperor penguins are White and the others aren’t, and they are
better than the “misfits” who are really Mexicans” (Boske 2011: 174).
Before watching the film the participants thought of this film as a funny interesting movie
about dancing penguins but after participating in the study and the conversations critically
analyzing race in the film, the participants recognized that Latinos are being portrayed in
negative ways in this film and they reconsidered that they need to be knowledgeable in media
literacy to be able to understand the significance these images and portrayals are having on the
Latino community (Boske 2011: 176). The participants emphasized that media literacy needs to
start somewhere and that would be in the school because sometimes teachers put movies on free
days and they never have discussions about the hidden messages of the media (Boske 2011:
175).
More Could Be Done
What need to be done to be able to change the ways that Latinos are portrayed in the
media is that we need more Latinos to be the makers of meaning rather than bearers of meaning
(Berg 1990: 293). We need Latinos to be able to be behind the camera shape their own imagery
(Berg 1990: 297). Latinos need to put out there that we are not a bunch of lazy, deviant, sexual,
violent, and aggressive criminals; we are a group of human beings that just as White people are
intelligent, so are we; that just as White people can do business, so can we; that just as White
people are moral and ethical, so are we; and that just as White people are honest and good, so are
we. Latinos need to step up and show Whites and minorities that stereotypes serve no good
function and only lead to negative effects.
Latinos need to be producing, directing, and changing the image of how Latinos have
been portrayed for years. But it’s important to not only spot stereotypes but also to analyze the
system that endorses them, because once portrayals of Latinos and minorities are understood the
“invisible architecture of the dominant-dominated arrangement will be exposed and thus there
could be a chance for a structural rearrangement” (Berg 1990: 297). Hollywood, Disney, and all
those media corporations need to have the light shown on them so that the system can be
changed from the inside out, from the beginning, from the production to the viewer; because
until this doesn’t happen the cycle will continue on and on.
Also more research needs to be done on the effects that television and films have on
Latinos, because it was difficult to find previous research and reviews of the implications
stereotypes have on Latinos. There needs to be more research on how Latinos self-esteem and
body image satisfaction is affected by media. I would like to see more films and television shows
analyzed to find hidden messages it may be showing about Latinos. I would also like to know
about how Latino music videos and Latino fashion magazines are portraying Latinos and their
effects also. There needs to be more investigation on how Latino actors are treated in the media
industry and their struggles as well. I think that a lot of the research that has been done and could
be done would not only apply to Latinos but also to other minority groups.
Conclusion
Media tells a different story about Latinos, a story that is not true, but those images of
Latinos become attitudes and behaviors in real life toward Latinos. The reason that the media
should be analyzed and questioned is because it is the “primary source of providing knowledge
about the social world and cultures” (Mastro 2005: 111). It is important that the messages the
media sends out are not stereotypes because people actually believe this primary source of
knowledge known as television shows and movies. When people believe stereotypes of how a
group of people are they will base their learned knowledge to their real-world interactions and
these interactions will be negative towards Latinos because Latinos are so badly represented in
the media. Stereotypes serve a function in society and that is to identify, justify, and support
(anglo) beliefs (Berg 1990: 292). Those beliefs that White’s have of Latinos have no basis and
are incorrect. There must be a change in our media because Latinos have unjustly suffered for
too long through racism, negative attitudes/behavior, discrimination, and negative views of the
self. Now that you have read my exploration through the effects and implications that stereotypes
in the media have on Latinos, it should be impossible to ever look at a film again and not
question its “authenticity and impact on our perceptions and constructions of meaning” (Reyes
and Rios 2007: 5).
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