By: Autumn Chaveco
Throughout history, illegal immigrants have been horribly misrepresented by films, tv shows, and even the news. These forms of media set a narrative for the consumers to live by, resulting in the mistreatment of immigrants. Entertainment and media have been the largest back round contributor to our inner dialogue and opinions since people were able to absorb it, and the content of this media matters. Films that are best for combatting stereotypes and the “Latino Threat Narrative” are documentaries that dive into the personal lives and cultural identities of immigrants or movies that elicit emotion for immigrants by depicting their true, heartbreaking stories. By bettering our media intake one step at a time, we can save future generations of Hispanic kids from being embarrassed by their families, help develop easier and less lengthy immigration processes, or even just make America a safe space for immigrants to make new lives.
Bars indicate percentage of those who agree or somewhat agree that each stereotype describes Latinos for each level of familiarity on our familiarity scale.
Since the dawn of film in the 1920’s, Latinos have been portrayed by media. Yet, their offensive and inaccurate portrayal is enough to make the community rather not be portrayed at all. The first appearances of Latinos in the states were in silent Western films, where they portrayed “Banditos” or the evil antagonists of the stories that always oppose the white main character. This sour introduction set up viewers for an antipathetic perspective of Latinx people, especially illegal immigrants. Hispanic men are conventionally depicted by brute-ish actors, with big mustaches and muscles or fat bellies. They are shown as loud and careless and aggressive. Family men, but entranced by women easily and presented as adulterers. The only jobs they are placed in in movies are construction, gardening, selling drugs, or they are out of work completely. Hispanic men in the media are also portrayed as “sneaky” and always trying to take more than they deserve; they are always seeking ways to get into the white man’s position. Hispanic women are over sexualized in entertainment. They are widely misinterpreted to be promiscuous and feisty; hard to catch. Overly emotional and eager to be heard. Younger Hispanic women are even portrayed explicitly as sex workers or dancers, while the older women are maids, nannies, or cooks/dishwashers. Hispanic women are extremely more likely to be filmed nude in movies than any other ethnicity. (Andrews 1) Besides being laughably incorrect and plain offensive, these images in the media can be detrimental to Hispanic families.
Two famous stereotype characters in American media.
Sofia Vergara on Modern Family in an outfit she wears often on the show.
It’s ultimately up to a person themselves to change their media consumption habits and reshape them into documentaries, movies about the prominent contributions made by established immigrants around the world, or even just news that is neutral and doesn’t attack a cause. Watching the film A Better Life made me respect immigrants so much more. A Better Life is the story of a single father, who is an illegal immigrant from Mexico, with a son born in the US. The movie carries us through the very specific trials and tribulations immigrants run into almost every day: begging for work, not having documentation in case of an emergency, and knowing that any time they are pulled over it can immediately result in deportation. While the movie showcases these issues in America, it simultaneously develops a heartfelt story of father and son who are both misunderstood by the other. We watch their relationship become better and better as the movie progresses, until the very end the father is pulled over for speeding, with the son in the car, and deported back to Mexico. We are given an ending scene that will leave you teary eyed; the father in son in a jail room saying their final goodbyes to each other, singing a song from the son’s childhood in Spanish. This scene is very effective rhetoric for the immigrant cause— it shows the human and familial side to deportation. It rips families apart, and when it happens in the movie, the viewer sees really just how unnecessary it is in the first place. The father is a hard-working, sweet, loveable, and selfless character who does nothing but what he can to make enough money to support his son. Stories like these or other immigrant stories portrayed in “documentaries have the potential to counteract the Latino Threat Narrative, and involve the viewers in a way that resonates with Carl Plantinga’s “engagement theory” that places emotion at the heart of the relationship between the viewer and what he calls the ‘stories on screen,’” (Cheyroux 3).
The scene referred to from A Better Life.
El Norte puts on a magnificent display of human nature and ends on the message that family and culture are more important than monetary value. Seeing such nice characters go through such disturbing hardships all to just have a safe place to take shelter in America is enough to make a person rethink their negative attitudes towards immigration. By telling a story of sibling love and true perseverance, El Norte procures sympathy for anyone the two main characters, who are immigrants. They are not the stereotypical Hispanic figures shown in early Western movies, or the sneaky immigrants portrayed on the news; they are people.
Enrique and Rosa in a dangerous situation fighting for their lives to get to America.
Works Cited
Andrews, K. (2017, May 1). (mis)representation of Latinos in media. Panoramas. Retrieved November 24, 2021,
from https://www.panoramas.pitt.edu/art-and-culture/misrepresentation-latinos-media.
Cheyroux, E. (2019, November 30). Immigrant rights documentaries and engagement. InMedia. The French \
Journal of Media Studies. Retrieved November 24, 2021, from
https://journals.openedition.org/inmedia/1718.
Mutz, D. C. (18AD). Mass Media and American Attitudes Toward Immigration. Perry World House. Retrieved
November 23, 2021, from https://global.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/Mutz.pdf.
“Power of the Purse: The Contributions of Hispanic Americans.” New American Economy Research Fund, 18 Feb.
2020, https://research.newamericaneconomy.org/report/hispanic-americans-2019/.
Reny, T., & Monzano, S. (2016, July 6). The Negative Effects of Mass Media Stereotypes of Latinos and
Immigrants. Retrieved November 24, 2021, from
https://tylerreny.github.io/pdf/pubs/reny_manzano_stereotypes_2016.pdf.