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Friday, October 07, 2022
Latinos Continue To Be Invisible In Hollywood And The Media, A New Report Finds
LAist: Despite making up nearly 19% of the population, Latinos continue to be underrepresented or misrepresented in Hollywood, news and book publishing, according to a new report released by the Government Accountability Office.
2 comments:
Victor Gutierrez
said...
It feels tiring to have to continue to say this but since its still a problem it bears repeating, “this is why representation matters.” People like to act like Hollywood and our media is just fun entertainment, but our media has the power to shape the image of our society at the time and influence what people think, and to quote a famous move line, “with great powers comes great responsibility,” Hollywood and the greater media industry has to answer for the negative stereotypes they continue to perpetuate and the direct results of people believing those stereotypes. Hopefully, reports like this can push media companies to expand its diversity in front of and behind the camera as well as in board rooms and C-suites. There is not a dearth of Latine people who want to be part of the media industry. I know there are people who want to help tell our stories, but they are being kept out and their stories are being stifled through overt and subtle ways that need to be stopped.
Representation Matters is a sentiment that should not have to be uttered in 2022. The fact that our media is still highly selective in it’s portrayal is heinous. I can’t say I’m surprised since the industry heads are still old white men but it is extra painful when talking about representation and some says “but it’s better now”. And? Make it better. Art is about always moving forwards. Act like it. The argument that “it is better now” only asks for marginalized identities to conform to crumbs. How is that just? How is that fair? It isn’t, but in a world so used to pushing down BIPOC, it is seen as a miracle to treat a person with dignity. Even if it is half-baked dignity hidden in a pile of white Reddi Whip and fake niceties. It really is not that hard to find Latine artisans. It is not hard to hire them to portray stories true to them, heaven knows that usually authenticity is good. I keep on being reminded of the costume designer for Mulan (2020) being a white woman whose trips to China, and France were covered to “research the clothing of the time” and designed purely inaccurate costumes that were unrecognizable amalgamations of different dynasties hundreds of years apart. How can a foreigner understand your culture to a deeper extent that you? A person that lives it in their reality.
2 comments:
It feels tiring to have to continue to say this but since its still a problem it bears repeating, “this is why representation matters.” People like to act like Hollywood and our media is just fun entertainment, but our media has the power to shape the image of our society at the time and influence what people think, and to quote a famous move line, “with great powers comes great responsibility,” Hollywood and the greater media industry has to answer for the negative stereotypes they continue to perpetuate and the direct results of people believing those stereotypes. Hopefully, reports like this can push media companies to expand its diversity in front of and behind the camera as well as in board rooms and C-suites. There is not a dearth of Latine people who want to be part of the media industry. I know there are people who want to help tell our stories, but they are being kept out and their stories are being stifled through overt and subtle ways that need to be stopped.
Representation Matters is a sentiment that should not have to be uttered in 2022. The fact that our media is still highly selective in it’s portrayal is heinous. I can’t say I’m surprised since the industry heads are still old white men but it is extra painful when talking about representation and some says “but it’s better now”. And? Make it better. Art is about always moving forwards. Act like it. The argument that “it is better now” only asks for marginalized identities to conform to crumbs. How is that just? How is that fair? It isn’t, but in a world so used to pushing down BIPOC, it is seen as a miracle to treat a person with dignity. Even if it is half-baked dignity hidden in a pile of white Reddi Whip and fake niceties.
It really is not that hard to find Latine artisans. It is not hard to hire them to portray stories true to them, heaven knows that usually authenticity is good. I keep on being reminded of the costume designer for Mulan (2020) being a white woman whose trips to China, and France were covered to “research the clothing of the time” and designed purely inaccurate costumes that were unrecognizable amalgamations of different dynasties hundreds of years apart. How can a foreigner understand your culture to a deeper extent that you? A person that lives it in their reality.
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