I am happy to say that next week, as a requirement for my TV Communications course, I will be doing a book review that has to do anything about the media. I guess I am more proud to say that my topic will be about Hispanics in the U.S. film industry. The book I will be reading, titled "Hispanics and United States Film: An Overview and Handbook" (Keller) is a review and study on how Hispanics were depicted during the early stages of the U.S. movie explosion, all the way to the present times
It is pretty obvious that back then, if you were Hispanic, you were pretty much put in "ethnic roles" such as an exotic woman, a fiery female, or a mysterious man. However, I also know that if you were Latin or Hispanic, and you wanted to get far in movies, then perhaps one option you needed to do is change your identity....entirely.
Case in point: Rita Hayworth. This alluring beauty is indeed my favorite actress of my entire life! Yet, her real name isn't "Rita Hayworth". She was born Margarita Carmen Cansino, whose father was a Spanish flamenco dancer, and her mother was of Anglo-Irish descent. It turns out that in the beginning stages of her Hollywood career, her first husband order her to change her name ("Hayworth" was her mother's maiden name), raise her hairline with electrolysis (she had thick, jet-black hair that was pretty low in the forehead) and dyed it red. That way, she can look less "Latin" and more "girl-next-door". Hence, the all American Love Goddess was born. And her movie career blossomed after that. A small clip of her Hollywood career life is shown above (you'll be pretty amazing that she doesn't look an inch Hispanic).
However, Latinos (in my opinion)....whatever you like it or not, are indeed the most versatile looking people in the world. They pretty much can get away with anything in any given role due to their looks and aura. Yet, they are still given ethnic/stereotypical performances.
No comments:
Post a Comment