Televisión Latiné | Call To Action

THE FUTURE OF LATINÉ REPRESENTATION

Photo by fauxels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-people-near-wooden-table-3184418/

In order to combat these stereotypes and redefine the Latiné narrative in television within the United States, it is necessary that there is color-cognizant casting in which actors and actresses are casted because they fit the role beyond a stereotype. However, in order to have more color-conscious casting there needs to be more Latiné representation in the production process of television and media. The development of accurate representation begins with how the characters are written (Molina-Guzmán 2018). Writing characters to be representative of more realistic Latiné life individuals of the community. Though not all shows are realistic, putting Latinés in roles that are positively portrayed is important and Latiné writers would contribute to this development and would positively impact Latiné representation. 

 

 

 

Top photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-and-red-typewriter-1995842/

Though in the last decade Latiné representation has increased, the level of representation to white representation in television compared to the Latiné population is very low. Most representations of Latinés include maids at 69% in media compared to the reality of 44.3% in the occupation; criminals at 24.2% in media compared to 19% in reality; Law enforcement at 23% in media compare to 13% in reality; and creative types at 1% compared to 9% in reality (Negrón-Muntaner et al. 2014). Earlier in the 1950’s many television shows centered on western themes that portrayed white males as heroes and Latinés as criminals (Beltrán 2022) . This then perpetuated the stereotypes that white heterosexual men were morally good whereas Latiné heterosexual men were morally bad. This then allows the discrimination of Latinés in society to continue through these stereotypes.

Group shot of people celebrating
Photo by Matheus Bertelli on Pexels.