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Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Latina Speaking Characters on TV Reach High — of 7 Percent
Hollywood Reporter: The percentages of women on screen and behind the scenes in television dipped slightly in 2017-18, according to the 21st annual Boxed In report from San Diego State's Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film.
3 comments:
Annika Evens
said...
Reading something like this I can just never understand how people think "Women make up half of the population, so it's totally fine if they only make up 40 percent of the population on television." So many people's ideas about the world outside of where they live come from what they see on TV. It is just that prominent in our culture. So it is extremely important that television is accurately representing the world we live in and the country. Every person should be able to watch a television show and see people who look like them or talk like them or act like them. The fact that only 7% of all women speaking characters on TV are latina when in reality they make up 20% of the female population of this country is so incredibly disappointing to me. Perhaps the most disappointing part pointed out in this article is that it is 2018 and the percent of women on screen and behind the screed had decreased. That number should be increasing and should be representative of the population. It makes me so sad that more people don't see this as a problem that needs to be fixed.
Despite what some people think, the media, specifically film and television, is incredibly important to individuals. Representation is incredibly important, not only because equality is always something to be working towards, but also because it is necessary for people to be able to see actors like them on screen. Though this is not what the article is specifically talking about, for me, it is important to see more queer actors in queer roles in the media. Not only is it a little tiring to only be seeing movies and television shows about straight people, but eliminating the queer experience from the media sends the message that it is less important or less interesting. It is shocking that Latina characters made up only 2.8 percent of people in movies and television because that is simply not a reflection of reality and it sends the message that Latina actors are not worth the screen time, which, again, is not the truth.
This article upset me so much, as I saw the picture from "One Day at a Time" and got excited, and then opened the article just to be reminded of the lack of representation in our media. This article focuses on the fact that hispanic women make up on 7% of all women on televisions, and only 2.8% of all male and female performers. Representation is so important in the media, because it helps to make people feel like they have a sense of belonging in the world. For example, I - as a high school junior - was ecstatic when Moana came out, because there was finally a Disney princess that looked like me. Growing up I'd often play princesses with my friends, and they would always make me be Jasmine or Pocahontas, because "they were the only ones that looked like me" (which by the way -- they didn't). Having more Latina representation in the media is extremely important for all the little Latina girls out there who are looking for role models, and for all the little Caucasian girls out there that think they're the "standard." Elena from One Day at a Time portrays a female, hispanic, and queer character. I honestly believe that she might be one of the most important characters on television right now, and I really hope that more characters like her will begin to appear in the near future.
3 comments:
Reading something like this I can just never understand how people think "Women make up half of the population, so it's totally fine if they only make up 40 percent of the population on television." So many people's ideas about the world outside of where they live come from what they see on TV. It is just that prominent in our culture. So it is extremely important that television is accurately representing the world we live in and the country. Every person should be able to watch a television show and see people who look like them or talk like them or act like them. The fact that only 7% of all women speaking characters on TV are latina when in reality they make up 20% of the female population of this country is so incredibly disappointing to me. Perhaps the most disappointing part pointed out in this article is that it is 2018 and the percent of women on screen and behind the screed had decreased. That number should be increasing and should be representative of the population. It makes me so sad that more people don't see this as a problem that needs to be fixed.
Despite what some people think, the media, specifically film and television, is incredibly important to individuals. Representation is incredibly important, not only because equality is always something to be working towards, but also because it is necessary for people to be able to see actors like them on screen. Though this is not what the article is specifically talking about, for me, it is important to see more queer actors in queer roles in the media. Not only is it a little tiring to only be seeing movies and television shows about straight people, but eliminating the queer experience from the media sends the message that it is less important or less interesting. It is shocking that Latina characters made up only 2.8 percent of people in movies and television because that is simply not a reflection of reality and it sends the message that Latina actors are not worth the screen time, which, again, is not the truth.
This article upset me so much, as I saw the picture from "One Day at a Time" and got excited, and then opened the article just to be reminded of the lack of representation in our media. This article focuses on the fact that hispanic women make up on 7% of all women on televisions, and only 2.8% of all male and female performers. Representation is so important in the media, because it helps to make people feel like they have a sense of belonging in the world. For example, I - as a high school junior - was ecstatic when Moana came out, because there was finally a Disney princess that looked like me. Growing up I'd often play princesses with my friends, and they would always make me be Jasmine or Pocahontas, because "they were the only ones that looked like me" (which by the way -- they didn't). Having more Latina representation in the media is extremely important for all the little Latina girls out there who are looking for role models, and for all the little Caucasian girls out there that think they're the "standard." Elena from One Day at a Time portrays a female, hispanic, and queer character. I honestly believe that she might be one of the most important characters on television right now, and I really hope that more characters like her will begin to appear in the near future.
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