Still, Real Women Have Curves (Patricia Cardosa, 2002)Briefly address the following:
Describe the “greaser” and the “Latin Lover” stereotypes. When did these stereotypes emerge and how were they represented on screen? How does the concept of “whiteness” inform their circulation in U.S. cinema? What is the “Good Neighbor Policy” and what impact did it have on the representation of Latinos/as? How does the concept of “whiteness” inform the ways Latino/a actors were promoted within the U.S. film industry (provide at least one example)? What shifts occur in Latino/a media representation after the Civil Rights movement? Discuss at least one Latino/a actor and/or director (one from the immediate post-Civil Rights era and one contemporary) and briefly explain how their careers are influenced by the history of Latinas/os in American film.
Please also read the Figueroa "Resisting 'Beauty'" essay for class discussion.
The greaser stereotype was represented in cinema as person of Latino descent as oily-skinned with a very dark completion who was known for being a troublemaking and at times very violent. When the “greaser” wasn’t depicted as hot-tempered, he was portrayed as lazy and unmotivated. The “Latin Lover” stereotype was highly sensual and sexual in either gender. These romantic actors were even able to have relation with white women on screen, but usually had very light complexions to appear “whiter”, which reinforced the privilege of whiteness. The Good Neighbor Policy was a federal program to observe US ties with Latin American countries. Once this initiative was set up, Hollywood started creating films that portrayed this friendship and embrace Latino cultures. These positive views on Latinos in film soon ended after the civil rights movement. This movement caused Americans to be more aware of how cruelly Hollywood was depicting Native Americans. These savage roles normally played by Native Americans, were soon replaced by Latino actors. Martin Sheen, although he changed his from then Ramon Estevez, was one of Hollywood’s most praised film and TV actors. Jennifer Lopez is a modern-day example of an Latino actress who embraces her ethnicity. In her role in The Wedding Planner (2001), she became the highest-paid actress in Hollywood history.
ReplyDeleteThe greaser is man originating from Mexico usually has a mustache and is oily and dark skinned just like the term indicates. The greaser can usually be seen in silent films causing trouble and is portrayed as a villainous thief who is violent, hot-tempered and cruel. The Latin Lover can be either a woman or a man and is more sensual then their North American counterparts. They became popular in the 1920s and they represent cultural assumptions that hint at erotic and exotic secrets. The Latin Lover always comes off as a hero because of their lighter complexion while the greaser is portrayed as the villain because of their dark skin. The idea of whiteness being desirable led some actors to go through plastic surgery to appear light. The Good Neighbor Policy was a series of federa programs and initiatives in the 1940s to increase the appearance of Latin American cities in images. It was designed to unite North America with Central and South America so that they would not ally with the Axis powers. Due to this policy Hollywood started creating films focusing on the Latino culture, mostly fiesta themed musicals. After the Civil Rights Movement the stereotype of Native Americans as beasts were replaced by Mexican and Bolivian greasers in Westerns who were always villains. Edward James Olmos is a Latino actor who was in Zoot Suit, Blade Runner and Miami Vice and he is an advocate who embraces his culture and attempts to promote more projects focusing on Latinos. He has taken advantage of his recognition to promote more independent films
ReplyDeleteThe “greaser” stereotype was of Latinos as dark-skinned with greased back hair that were violent, lazy and hot-tempered. The “Latin Lover” was milder in that the violence and dark skin were replaced with exotic sexual desire and lighter skin. These images of Latinos emerged during the early 20th century in response to migrating populations – similar concerns about African-Americans produced similar stereotypes as we’ve studied earlier. Even while Irish and Italian Americans were being accepted into “white” culture, Latinos still were regarded as “Other” and Hollywood treated them accordingly by characterizing them as villains with the white cowboy appearing to save the day.
ReplyDeleteThe Good Neighbor policy was a direct and immediate reaction to WWII and concerns about American borders. Relations between Latinos and the rest of the U.S. were improved so fear about the southern border could be laid to rest. Out of this, Hollywood produced many fun-loving, happy and unified musicals were whites and Latinos lived in harmony. While more accepted, many Latinos in film denied their culture to assimilate into and reinforce the concept of “whiteness” - a good example being Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Cansino). Even into the 50’s and 60’s actors and actresses like Martin Sheen and Raquel Welch denied their heritage in order to be more accepted into Hollywood and “white” culture in a larger sense. In Hayworth’s case, the shift to “whiteness” was quite involved: dying her hair and raising her hairline along with the name change.
In response to the civil rights movement, the Hollywood Western genre was forced to replace Native Americans as villains and in turn decided to use Latinos. But out of this period, La Causa led by Cesar Chavez and Nosotros led by Mexican American actor Ricardo Montalban created a movement which pressured Hollywood and the American conscience to examine how Latinos were portrayed on TV and in film. Ultimately, they had a significant effect in shifting race attitudes towards Latinos.
Just out of the 60’s into the 70’s and 80s, filmmaker Luis Valdez built on the Nosotros and La Causa movements to create serious and representative movies about Latino life. Having built some success, Valdez continued to promote theater and film that portrayed Latino culture in an honest and respectful way. More recently, Jennifer Lopez is probably the most successful Latina actress to date, starring in many large budget Hollywood films and having a popular singing/recording career as well. In this way, she has built on the slow but sure progress of Latinos before her.
During early 1900’s there were two Latino stereotypes portrayed in American cinema. The Greaser a oily mustached villain and the Latin lover a sexual and exotic character. The greaser was portrayed as a violent and cruel villain or a layman content to let others do his work. The Latin lover was portrayed as sensual emotional and exotic. The Latin lover was usually palled with a white male or female role and in this way assimilated into “whiteness”. During WWII the U.S. started the “Good Neighbor Policy” a program to recognize and celebrate U.S. ties with Latin American Countries. This program created a lot of work for Latin American actors who were cast in many roles depicting a party way of life between Americans and Latin’s. Unfortunately during this time these were the only roles any Latin Americans could get. During the Civil Rights Movement Hollywood went back to previous stereotypes of the Greaser because everything else was off limits. Today the greaser and Latin lover can still be seen I many movies and TV shows. Weeds a show on Showtime often has Latin men cast in gangster/greaser roles.
ReplyDeleteA greaser is an oily bandit and the Latin lover are seen as more sensual than sexual. They emerged in the early 20th century and on screen they greaser is seen as more of a villian whereas the Latin lover is seen as more of a sex object. The greaser was not accepted in white society but the Latin lover could be potentially assimilated into whiteness. The Good Neighbor Policy was the governments attempt to celebrate US ties with Latin America. The Latinos played a more celebrated role in cinema and were seen as a friend. Some Latinos wanted to hide their heritage to seem more white (Rita Hayworth). After the civil rights movement, savage Native Americans were replaced with bloodthirsty Mexican banditos. Anthony Quinn won an Oscar for playing a Hispanic role and Jennifer Lopez is the highest paid Hispanic actress in American history.
ReplyDelete“greaser” stereotypes = oily skinned with a dark complexion, troublemaker, violent and/or lazy
ReplyDeleteThe “Latin Lover” stereotype has a very sexual/sensual personalty male/female.
When did these stereotypes emerge? 1920’s How were they represented on screen?Light skinned,exotic
How does the concept of “whiteness” inform their circulation in U.S. cinema?
They are the white latinos.
What is the “Good Neighbor Policy” and what impact did it have on the representation of Latinos/as? It was setup with are latin american countries and reflected in hollywood land films. At which reflected the relationships the USA had with latinos.
How does the concept of “whiteness” inform the ways Latino/a actors were promoted within the U.S. film industry (provide at least one example)?the concept of whiteness still played huge in this time frame some latinos still played off their heritage by changing their names and so forth look how they played up Ricky Ricardo (Desi Armaz) from I love lucy, he is practically white with an accent. He also is from cuba which made his character more likable because cuba was so popular in that time.
Discuss at least one Latino/a actor and/or director (one from the immediate post-Civil Rights era and one contemporary) and briefly explain how their careers are influenced by the history of Latinas/os in American film. One of the most influential and successful actress in our time is 36 yr old Jenniffer lopez- she has a production company, clothing lines,perfumes singer actress she is one of the hardest working actress in hollywood. I also wanted to mention Salma Hayak Jimenez mexican/american actress/director she has appeared in more then 30 films. She is awesome! she fights for the rights of latinos today.
I don't like the term "Latino", as a "Latina" I don't understand the term . I don't speak Latin I speak Spanish. I don't understand what Hispanic means either. The greaser is a thick mustached , greasy oily looking bandit . Who was also in trouble I bet the character had a pancho or something of stereotypical nature.
ReplyDeletethe tempest, sexy, Latin lover...
ugh every movie and music video has them. Which has just increased the stereotype of what Spanish people are too look like. With there perfect faces beautiful eyes and lips ,muscular sexy body tan but not to dark! women have the long wavy hair and the men have short cropped wavy locks. They don't speak English very well, everyone is in love with them . There also suckers for love. The love interest is usually white and they are enthralled by there latino lover they've never been with anyone like them before and want no other type of deal. This emerged 1910-190's. With actors like Beatriz Michelena and Myrtle Gonzalez, Rudolphn Valentino, Ramon Novarro. Most of those actors could probably pass of white though.They assimilated well so that they could play either roles. The good neigh boor polciy was a fedreal plan to give recognition an such to U.S ties with Latin America( so that they could get oil and have military bases). This started latino historical films to be made.
I don't even have to think twice about this one
Rita Moreno.
I cant even begin to say how much I look up to her.
She is the first and only Hispanic female and one of nine performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony and at the time the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award. For West Side Story.
THE GREASER IS ONE OF THE EARLIEST AND COMMON REPRESENTATIONS OF LATINOS IN US CINEMA THAT IS AN OILY, DARK-SKINNED, AND A MUSTACHIOED BANDIT. THE GREASER COULD BE IDENTIFIED AS A VILLAINOUS THIEF WHO WAS VIOLENT, CRUEL, AND HOT-TEMPERED. A MILDER REPRESENTATION OF THE GREASER IS A CHARACTER THAT WAS CONTENT TO LIE UNDER HIS SOMBRERO ALL DAY WHILE OTHERS WORKED, SHIFTLESS AND LAZY. THE LATIN LOVER IS ONE OF THE OTHER RECURRING IMAGES OF LATINOS IN HOLLYWOOD. IT WAS A STEREOTYPE OF BOTH MEN AND WOMEN THAT WERE MORE SENSUAL AND SEXUAL THAN OTHERS. LATIN LOVER CHARACTERS WERE MORE ACCEPTING TO THE CONCEPT OF WHITENESS. THE LATIN LOVERS WERE THE LEADING MEN IN HOLLYWOOD WHO WOULD WIN THE HEARTS OF THE LEADING WHITE LADIES. THE THOUGHT OF ROMANTIC RELATIONS WITH GREASER CHARACTERS WERE MORE OF A TABOO AND VILE.
ReplyDeleteTHE GOOD NEIGHBOR POLICY WAS THE RESULT OF GOVERNMENTAL PROPAGANDA IN WANTING TO RECOGNIZE AND CELEBRATE US AND LATIN AMERICAN TIES. THE UNITED STATES FELT THE NEED TO AMP UP RELATIONS WITH NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES DUE TO THE WAR IN EUROPE ESCALATING AND WANTED TO PROMOTE A SENSE OF UNITY WITH CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA IN HOPES OF THEM NOT FORMING ALLIANCE WITH THE AXIS POWERS. ALONG WITH THE GOOD NEIGHBOR POLICY HOLLYWOOD CREATED FILM AD IMAGES THAT CELERBATED LATINO CULTURES AND IDEAL OF FRIENDSHIPS.
SOME OF THE LATINO ACTORS FELT THAT THEY HAD TO TAKE “WHITE-SOUNDING” NAMES IN ORDER TO SEEK ROLES IN HOLLYWOOD LIKE RAQUEL WELCH WHICH WAS BORN WITH THE NAME JO RAQUEL TEJADA. THERE WERE A NUMBER OF ACTORS THAT DOWNPLAYED THEIR HERITAGE AND SOME EVEN IGNORED IT.
THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT MADE THE US AWARE OF HOW WESTERN FILMS HAD WRONGLY STEREOTYPED NATIVE AMERICANS AS VIOLENT BEAST AND DEMONIZED. THEREFORE, WITH THE REALIZATION THE NATIVE AMERICANS WERE REPLACED BY THE MEXICAN VILLAIN OR THE BOLIVIAN GREASERS. RITA MORENO WON BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS OSCAR FOR HER ROLE IN WEST SIDE STORY. SHE DID NOT WORK IN HOLLYWOOD FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS BECAUSE SHE DID NOT WANTED TO BE TYPE-CASTED AS A LATINA GANG MEMBER. ROBERT RODRIGUEZ IS ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL LATINO FILMMAKER WITH MANY MOVIES ON HIS RESUME. HIS FIRST MOVIE WAS A LOW BUDGET MOVIE CALLED EL MARIACHI. IT TURNED SO MANY HEADS IN HOLLYWOOD, THAT THEY HAD TO DO A BIG-BUDGET REMAKE OF HIS $7000 ORIGINAL AND CALLED IT DESPERADO.
The greaser a Latino stereo-type that is a dark-skinned, oily Latino man (usually Mexican) that is known for causing trouble. The Latin-Lover stereotype can either be a man or a woman that is dark-skinned and exotic looking and portrays a very over sexualized character. These stereotypes arose in early 1920s during the silent film era. In the early 1940s, the United States wanted to improve relations with Central and South America hoping that they could form some sort of unity, thus preventing them from joining the axis powers of WWII. This was known as the Good Neighbor Policy and it included initiatives to celebrate United States and Latin American Countries' ties. Hollywood produced movies that showed positive portrayals of Latin Americans and made a lot of money off of the Latin American market. Even though more films were being made about Latin Americans and even though there were a lot of Latin American parts, White actors still got parts that were meant for Latin Americans. Similarly, Latin American actors tried to look more White, in order to become more successful. Margarita Casino changed her name to Rita Hayworth and dyed her hair to appear more White. Since the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Latin American filmed makers have emerged to dispute common stereotypes and change how Latin Americans are portrayed in film. Filmmaker Robert Rodriquez has had enormous success in making Hollywood blockbusters that are based around Latin American characters and culture.
ReplyDeletek
ReplyDeleteIn the early 19oo's the most common stereotype for latinos was the so-called greaser protrayed as an oily -dark skinned mustachied bandit a thief who was violent cruel and hot tempered. Another version was the opposite Latinos were scene as shiftless and lazy and content to lay up under a sombrero all day.
ReplyDeleteThe good neighbor policy a series of Fedreal initiatives and programs designed to recognize and celebrate US ties with Latin American Nations. Carmen Miranda the so-called Braziilian bombshell who preformed in nightclubs she sang a number "The lady in the Tuttie Frutti Hat". She was somtimes paired with white actors ina (comedic) romantic way only. During the civil rights movement Hollywood shifted from the historical genocide of the Native Americans and simply remade their villians into mexican greasers, Latinos were protrayed as corrupt violent and criminals. Salma Hayek has played in numerous movies she also produces and directs movies too.Ms. Hayek may have started her career as a beauty bombshell but snice then she become a respected and successful actor and producer in Hollywood.
Two stereotypes of Latin Americans were prevalent in early Hollywood films: the greaser, and the Latin lover. The former depicted Latin Americans as greasy, shiftless, criminals. The Latin lover was an overly sexualized ethnic type who was seen as being potentially assimilated. The “Good Neighbor Policy” was enacted by the US film industry to promote Hollywood films in South and Central America due to the decline of the European audience during WWII. Margarita Cansino was a Hispanic actress whose work in film and clubs was highly influenced by her heritage. However, upon acquiring a contract with Columbia pictures she became Rita Hayworth. She became a major star by denying her Hispanic heritage and wearing light make and dying her hair. Many actors attempted to assimilate themselves by changing their names. Several organizations made significant advances effecting negative representations by urging companies to drop stereotypical advertising for their products.
ReplyDeleteThe “greaser” stereotype described a Latino American with a longer slicked back hairdo and violent or thuggish tendencies. The “Latino Lover” stereotype described a more favorable Latino with lighter skin tone and a certain sexual aura about them. These Latinos, in contrast to their less popular counterpart, were often times seen on screen seducing attractive white women. Greasers were depicted on screen just as their title suggests and were never accepted within white culture. This supports the idea of “whiteness” because the lighter skin complexion a Latino had, the more screenplay and praise they would receive. The fact that numerous Latinos underwent plastic surgery to attain this complexion and attention exemplifies the magnitude of the situation. Both connotations thrived in the early and into the mid 1900’s. In the 1940’s the federal government implemented the “Good Neighbor Policy” as a way to unite the multicultural peoples within America in the midst of the World War II. Films depicting Latino life were mass produced and distributed. Most films however, depicted the Latino culture as a fun loving musically ethnic group, and refused to acknowledge the reality of racism and segregation affecting them for generations. The Civil Rights Movement brought upon a shift within mainstream media from negatively portraying Native Americans to then using the same energy against the Latino population. When I think of Latin Americans still prospering in today’s mainstream media Ricky Martin comes to mind. Not only is he a big hit in his own country but in America as well despite his race and the question of his sexual orientation.
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