Latinos in popular films almost nonexistent

It is no surprise that you rarely see Latinos in Hollywood movies. Hollywood has that door still tightly shut, save for stereotypical depictions and, every once in a while, an original character in an original story.

The 2019 study “Latinos in Film: Erasure on Screen and Behind the Camera Across 1,200 Popular Movies,” by the University of Southern California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), and Wise Entertainment, examines the decades-long void and fills it with interpretation and recommendations.

Since the inception of the film industry, Hollywood has favored portraying Latinos as criminals (it rewarded Benicio del Toro with an Oscar for playing a crooked cop in 1998’s Traffic); maids (too many to mention); and hypersexualized objects of desire for men (including Jennifer López in 2019’s Hustlers, about strippers).

Where are the leading roles for Latinas or Latinos that break the stereotypes? When do we see an astronaut, a banker, an untroubled homemaker, an honest detective? They have yet to be produced with the same vigor applied to vehicles for top-grossing stars like Tom Cruise and Jennifer Aniston. It’s a catch-22 — there aren’t Latino megastars in Hollywood because none have been proven to guarantee big box office returns. But how can they when the parts are limited to tired stereotypes?

Of the 100 top-grossing movies between 2007 and 2018, only 3 percent featured Latinos in the top roles, and 4.5 percent of all speaking characters were Latino, even though Latinos are 18.3 percent of the U.S. population.

Overall, of the 1,200 high-earning movies from the same time period, almost half did not have Latinos in any role. And when Latinos were present in the others, the characters dreamed up by screenwriters were portrayals of criminals, drug users and pushers, maids, sexualized objects, and people living in poverty.

Mari Castañeda, professor of communication and associate dean for equity and inclusion at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an expert on Latinos in the media, brings up questions for industry movers and shakers to ask themselves.

“What is the American imagination about Latinos and what is it that we’re capable of being and doing in the world?” As for the intentional exclusion of the diversity of Latinos that would match the diversity of Anglo characters, she said, “That particular racism is also about the making of the nation.” Where is the LGBT community? The powerful women? The good men? 

“Who gets to make claim of the nation? And are these people really valuable to the nation itself?”

A complex, interwoven set of issues drives the continued exclusion of Latinos in the industry. “The biggest challenge a lot of organizations and underrepresented communities face is accessibility to resources, whether it’s funding or relationships with industry stakeholders,” says Liliana Espinoza, production and development manager at NALIP. The organization is “working to bridge the gap between the traditional methods of success in the industry and the next generation of decision-makers. There are creative, elegant solutions to these challenges, and we know that collaborating with those who are passionate about making the industry more inclusive is the best way forward.”

The economic challenges lie not only in persuading producers to put money into projects with Latinos, but also enabling Latinos to get into the business at entry-level positions. “The barriers of economic entry are so high that a lot of Latinos can’t participate,” she says. “I don’t have the luxury of being able to make $8 an hour just because I get to be part of Warner Brothers, because I don’t have a family to lean on to make that dream happen.” 

There aren’t enough Latinos in positions of power. According to the study, only 4 percent of the films were directed by Latinos, and Latinos had only 3 percent of producing credits (and 80 percent of these producers were men). And the handful of stars, mostly men, including Benicio del Toro, Oscar Isaac, Andy García, and the directors Alfonso Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro, do not appear to be in front of any public movement to bring more Latinos and Latinas into the industry. 

The result is that the public sees the intersection of racism and economics, and in that corner, stories about Hispanics and stories that include Latinos are few. One would think it would be in the economic interest of studios to make more inclusive content — Latinos lead ethnic communities in movie attendance, going almost five times a year on average in comparison with Asians (just over four times a year) and African Americans and Anglos (both groups about three times a year), according to a 2017 study by the Motion Picture Association of America. The Annenberg study points out that Latinos account for 23 percent of the movie tickets sold every year and 49 percent of the population of Hollywood’s hometown, Los Angeles.

NALIP wants to bring actresses with the pull of J Lo and directors like Alfonso Cuarón to help more Latinos break into Hollywood. The organization “is working to provide spaces where these connections can form through programs like our Emerging Content Creators Inclusion Initiative, which is an integral part of our year-round programming,” says Espinoza. “It’s crucial for these emerging creatives to have a cohort and peers they can learn with because ultimately these are the folks they’ll be collaborating with in the future.” 

Espinoza adds that NALIP wants to “really encourage Latinos in the industry to mentor the next generation that’s coming up and collaborate with one another. Whether you’re on set or in the boardroom, investing in the future of the industry and building community is a great way to ensure that the quality and quantity of Latino narratives improves.”

Change includes ending a tradition of whitewashing — the appalling, long history of Anglo actors portraying people of color, including Jake Gyllenhaal as an Arab in The Prince of Persia (2010); Emma Stone as a woman of Chinese and Hawaiian descent in Aloha (2015); and Christian Bale as an Egyptian in Gods and Kings (2014). 

Last year, the National Hispanic Media Coalition protested at the Oscars and promoted a social media campaign with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. A sample tweet: “Putting Oscar Issac in one or two movies a year is not enough. Latinos are fed up with not seeing ourselves on screen. We don’t want change, we demand change. @DisneyStudios, @ParamountPics, @20thcenturyfox, @SonyPictures #OscarsSoWhite #HireUSLatinos”

In addition to continue the push for inclusivity, Latinos are creating their own opportunities through independent work, bypassing an industry that doesn’t want them for anything other than stereotypical roles. Done with stereotypical roles, Salma Hayek became a producer as well. In 2003, she was nominated or an Oscar for her portrayal of the iconic painter Frida Kahlo in Frida, a movie she helped produce.

One independent work Castañeda points out is “Pinkslipped,” a funny short-sketch comedy on YouTube developed by Jaqueline Priego, about three Chicago friends launching their own business. The millennials are doing what they’re doing — not resorting to stereotypes. It’s refreshing.

“It doesn’t hit the mainstream and it doesn’t always hit thousands of people,” she says, “but there is a lot of alternative to Hollywood work that’s taking place that people feel is creating different stories, nuanced stories, richer stories that are not represented in Hollywood productions.” 

Six years ago, USC issued another report on the lack of diversity across 4,000 characters in the biggest money makers of 2013. Back then, the report stated that there had not been “meaningful change” in the number of roles that spotlight any racial or ethnic group between 2007 and 2013.

The Annenberg study includes a call for action for all sectors of the industry, including talent agencies (recruit and sign Latino talent), studios (consider Latino directors for top jobs), casting directors (cast a wider net to find emerging talent from Latino communities), film festivals (recruit submissions from Latino creatives), philanthropists (designate funding for the Latino community when supporting festivals and nonprofits), and corporations (hire Latino creative talent behind the camera for ad campaigns).

But meanwhile, the study spotlights that, year after year, very little has changed.