It seems that every year Latinos are passed up when it comes to lead characters on television and especially in film. For years, Latino organizations like The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), The Imagen Foundation and National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) have tried to not only to highlight Latinos in entertainment and recognized those individuals who have excelled when it comes to the arts and entertainment, but have also tried to work with the studios to give Latinos a chance to play lead characters. Unfortunately, even with these types of Latino organizations that have been around for years and have raised millions of dollars, they seem to have a tough time landing leading roles for Latinos in television and film.
NBC’s new television drama ‘Shades of Blue’ has cast actress, dancer and singer Jennifer Lopez as one of the lead characters, but perhaps more importantly, she is the executive producer. While this is a strong step in the right direction, it is also an outlier. If you look at the films currently playing in theatres and most television shows, you will not only find a lack of Latinos playing a lead, but almost no Latinos in any of the supporting roles. When Latinos do land a role in a film or television show, perhaps even more problematically, it is the stereotype of a gangster or maid. Latinos are looking for roles like the one Jennifer landed for ‘Shades of Blue’, but unfortunately most struggling Latinos do not have the money nor the pull to be an executive producer of a film or television show to choose the roll they want to play like Jennifer is fortunate to do.
Latinos are becoming the largest ethnic group in America and they love going to the movies more than any other ethnicity in America. The large studios as well as advertisers need to embrace and engage the Latino audience who have also been proven to be a loyal consumer and put pressure on the studios to produce Latino-based shows, casting leading Latinos in movies as well as television. There has been proven successes of Latino themed films like La Bamba and Selena. No one has a clear explanation as to why after all these years of grass roots campaigns and Latino organizations to get more Latinos in front of the camera has not been successful, but I do believe it is only a matter of time before we see Latinos as lead characters and Latino themed stories in television and film.
References
Latimer, B. “Latinos in Hollywood: Few Roles, Frequent Sterotypes, New Study Finds.” NBC. 2016. Retrieved from http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latinos-hollywood-few-roles-frequent-stereotypes-new-study-finds-n523511
Shaw, L. “How Hispanics Became Hollywood’s Most Important Audience.” The Wrap. 2014. Retrieved from http://www.thewrap.com/how-hispanics-became-hollywoods-most-important-audience/
Smith, S., Choueiti, M. & Pieper, K. “Inequality in 800 Popular Films: Examining Portrayals of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, LGBT, and Disability from 2007-2015.” USC Annenberg. 2016. Retrieved from http://annenberg.usc.edu/pages/~/media/MDSCI/Dr%20Stacy%20L%20Smith%20Inequality%20in%20800%20Films%20FINAL.ashx