lecture 5: how about some latino stereotypes?
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Lecture 5: How about some Latino stereotypes?. Professor Daniel Bernardi / Professor Michelle Martinez. In the last lecture…. Semiotics of Stereotypes Falling Down (1993) Reception of Stereotypes. Ben Shahn, Conversations, 1958. In this lecture…. Stereotypes & Story - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Lecture 5: Lecture 5: How about some Latino How about some Latino
stereotypes?stereotypes?
Professor Daniel Bernardi /
Professor Michelle Martinez
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In the last lecture…In the last lecture…
• Semiotics of Stereotypes• Falling Down (1993)• Reception of Stereotypes
Ben Shahn, Conversations, 1958
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In this lecture…In this lecture…
• Stereotypes & Story
• Six Latino Stereotypes
• Resistance is Possible– Progressive Images– Latinos Playing Latinos
Dolores Del Río
You can pause the lecture at any point, click on one of the hyperlinks (text that is underlined) to visit a site or view a clip, and then return to the same point in the lecture when you’re ready.
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Stereotypes & StoryStereotypes & Story
Lecture 5: Part 1
Shot from Flying Down to Rio (1933)
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Remember Semiotic ProcessRemember Semiotic Process
From Noodle Tools
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Remember Signs of StereotypingRemember Signs of Stereotyping
• Image/Sign = El Bandido
• Traits/Signifiers = Color, Sombrero, Smirk
• Signified = Connotative Meanings (race, nation, morality, etc.)
“A mediated stereotype, then, operates by gathering a specific set of negative traits (signifiers) and assembling them into a
particular image (sign).” – Charles Ramírez Berg
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Remember Triangled ViewerRemember Triangled Viewer
Hegemony
Archetype Hero
+
+Viewer
- Stereotype
• Audience Invited Into Triangle
• Asked to Take a Side– Hero (in-group)– Other Character (out-group or just minor)
• Easiest Way into Movie is Assuming Positive Point (hence, identification)
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Start with CharactersStart with Characters
• Entrenched Storytelling Conventions
• Goal-Oriented Protagonist– White, Handsome, Straight, Protestant
• Stereotypes and Minor Characters– Villains, Sidekicks, Temptresses– Provide Hero w/ Opportunities to Display
Moral, Physical and Intellectual Preeminence
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Consider Cinematic Elements Consider Cinematic Elements Contributing to Stereotypical SignsContributing to Stereotypical Signs
• Mise-en-Scène
• Cinematography
• Editing
• Sound
• Costuming & Make-up
• PerformanceShot from Falling Down (1993)
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Move to Narrative StructureMove to Narrative Structure
• Beginning = Equilibrium
• Middle = Disruption
• End = Restoration of Status Quo
“The status quo posited in the movies as the best of all worlds is one that is safe, peaceful, and
prosperous. But it is also one that is white, upper-middle-class, Protestant, English-speaking, one that
conforms to Anglo norms of beauty, health, intelligence, and so forth.”
– Charles Ramírez Berg
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Stereotype Commutation TestStereotype Commutation TestTry to substitute another ethnicity into the role
being analyzed. If the part can be played just as well as another ethnic, national, or, for that
matter, gender group, then it is probably not a stereotype, but rather a stock comic or dramatic
type (the jealous husband, the flirtatious wife, the deceptive best friend, and so forth). If no other ethnicity can be readily substituted for the role,
then chances are that it relies on specific stereotypical traits of a particular cultural group to
make its comedic or dramatic impact.” – Charles Ramírez Berg.
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Six Latino StereotypesSix Latino Stereotypes
Lecture 5: Part 2
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The Six TypesThe Six Types
• El Bandido
• Harlot
• Male Buffoon
• Female Clown
• Latin Lover
• Dark LadyJacqueline Obradors in Six Days, Seven Nights (1998)
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Historical PointHistorical Point“Sometimes the stereotypes were combined, sometimes they were altered superficially, but
their core defining – and demeaning – characteristics have remained consistent for
more than a century and are still evident today.”
– Charles Ramírez Berg
Douglas Fairbanks Antonio Bandaras
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El BandidoEl Bandido
• Dirty, Unkempt, Oily Hair
• Scars and Scowls
• Vicious, Cruel, Treacherous
• Irrational, Emotional, Violent
• Inability to Speak English
Frank Silvera in Hombre (1967)
Al Pacino in Scarface (1983)
Click Here to See Scene from Scarface (1993)
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The HarlotThe Harlot
• Corresponds to El Bandido– Secondary Character
• Hot-tempered, Slave to Passion
• Inherent Nymphomania
– Sex Machine
– Innately Lusts for White Men
Linda Darnell in My Darling Clementine
(1946)
Jacqueline Obradors in Six Days, Seven Nights
(1998)
Click Here to See Scene from Six Days, Seven Nights (1998)
Click Here to See Scene from My Darling Clementine (1946)
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The Male BuffoonThe Male Buffoon
• Second-Banana Comic Relief
• Simpleminded
• Cannot Master English – Heavy Accent– Mispronounces Words
• Butt of Joke
Leo Carrillo in The Cisco Kid (1950)
Alfonso Arau in ¡Three Amigos! (1986)
Click Here to See Scene from ¡Three Amigos! (1986)
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The Female ClownThe Female Clown
• Counterpart to Male Buffoon
• Neutralizes Latina Sexuality– Allows Hero to Reject for White
Woman / Maintain WASP Status Quo or Equilibrium
• Sullied and Ridiculed
Lupe Vélez in Honolulu Lu (1941)
Jacqueline Obradors in Six Days, Seven Nights
(1998)
Click Here to See Scene from Honolulu Lu (1941) – Under Construction
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The Latin LoverThe Latin Lover
• Established by Valentino
• Primal Sexuality
• Sensuous but Dangerous
• Romantic Promise that Could Get Out of Control
Rudolph Valintino in The Sheik
(1921)
Antonio Bandaras in
The Mask of Zorro (2005)
Click Here to See Scene from The Sheik (1921)
Read More About the Latin Lover on Hispanic Online.com
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The Dark LadyThe Dark Lady
• Counterpart to Latin Lover
• Virginal, Inscrutable, Aristocratic
• Arouse White Man’s Primal Desire More than White Woman
• Harlot Deep Down Inside
Dolores Del Río in In Caliente (1935)
María Conchita Alonso
in Colors (1988)
Click Here to See Scene from Flying Down to Rio (1933)
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The Big PointThe Big Point
• Part of Hollywood Moviemaking Paradigm• Fundamental to Storytelling Convention• Common, Repeated, Naturalized
– Shift and Change at Denotative Level– Connotative Level Remains Consistent
• Date Back to Early Cinema– The Greaser’s Gauntlet (1908)– Broncho Billy and the Greaser (1914)
Read Short Essay on Distorted Images from Digital History
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Resistance is PossibleResistance is Possible
Lecture 5: Part 3
Shot from Flying Down to Rio (1933)
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Critical CaveatCritical Caveat
Keep in mind that film texts are complicated, as are most texts found in popular culture. They contain
contradictions. They are rarely monolithic. “Hollywood cinema,” as Ramírez Berg notes, “is not simple, static,
or ideologically one-sided as that.”
Jennifer Lopez in Anaconda (1997)
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Ideological ConflictIdeological Conflict
• Dominant Films Contain Elements of Contradiction and Conflict
• Dominant Films Often Contain Progressive Elements
• Latino/a Actors Embed Irony and Subversion in their Performances
Suggested Supplemental Reading:
The Bronze Screen by Rosa Linda Fregoso
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Five Cinematic Categories Featuring Five Cinematic Categories Featuring Counter-StereotypesCounter-Stereotypes
• Partly Stereotypical / Partly Progressive
• Depart from Hollywood Paradigm
• Ideologically Oppositional
• Feature Latino/a Actors Subverting Types
• Made by Latino/a Directors to Counter Hollywood Paradigm
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Conflicts in Conflicts in Flying Down to RioFlying Down to Rio (1933) (1933)
• Stereotypes (Buffoon, Dark Lady)
• Supports Whiteness as Supreme
• Yet Includes Stereotypical Reversal
– Scene on the Beach
– Ending w/ Bicultural Romance
– Julio’s Noble Sacrifice
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Contemporary Example: Contemporary Example: AnacondaAnaconda (1997) (1997)
Jennifer Lopez’s heroism undermined the Hollywood paradigm: “the ritual commemoration of WASP male
heroism is hostile territory (and, ideologically and symbolically, of U.S. imperialism in the Third World).”
– Charles Ramírez Berg
Click Here to See Scene from Anaconda (1997)
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Latino/a Playing Latinos/asLatino/a Playing Latinos/as
• Avoid Problem of Brown Face– Remember Charlton Heston as Vargas
• Facilitates Greater Verisimilitude
• More Accurate Characterization
Click Here to See Scene from Touch of Evil (1958)
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Problem with that ArgumentProblem with that Argument
• Latinos/as are Heterogeneous– Can Puerto Ricans Play Chicanos?
• Authenticity is Reductive
• Latinos/as Engage in Stereotyping
Jennifer Lopez in Maid in Manhattan (2002)
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Progressive HollywoodProgressive Hollywood
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
• Salvador (1986)
“Although these films do follow the ‘WASP adventurer in the Third World’ formula, they nevertheless make
some pointed critiques of U.S. interference in the internal affairs of Latin American nations.”
– Charles Ramírez Berg
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End of Lecture 5End of Lecture 5
Next Lecture:
To assimilate or not to assimilate?