Hollywood's Dark Secret

Is racism the reason Latinas are getting ahead?

"There's sort of an accepted myth [in the film business]," Will Smith told the Birmingham Post in 2005, during a press junket for his film Hitch, "if you have two black actors—a male and a female—in a romantic comedy, people around the world don't want to see it. So, the idea of a black actor and a white actress comes up—and that's a problem in the US." The solution, Will concluded, while revealing a bit of insider Hollywood racism?

Latinas.

As members of the largest minority group in America, Latinos represent big business in Hollywood. Latin actresses like Eva Mendes and Salma Hayek appeal to men across all demographics—and offend none. Naturally, this casting trend has provided great opportunities for our Latina leading ladies, jumpstarting Eva's career and, more recently, Lymari Nadal (American Gangster) and Alice Braga (I am Legend), but even they are aware that success comes at a price.

"Certainly, I've benefited," Eva told Newsweek. "I've gotten to work with Ice Cube, Denzel Washington and Will. But it's lame. I wish the mentality wasn't so closed."

African American actresses like Queen Latifah share Eva's concern. "My take is, America is racist," Latifah told EurWeb.com while doing press for her film Beauty hop. "I hate the idea that you can't have a black couple [on screen]."

"Two black characters equals a black film," clarifies actress Nia Long. "Not just a movie about two people." The stigma of a "black film" scares away studio bosses hoping to appeal to mainstream audiences. "We spent $50-something million making this movie," said Will Smith of the decision not to cast a black actress opposite him in Hitch. "The studio would think that was tough on their investment." So, Latinas have slipped in as the politically and commerically-correct substitutes.

While no one seems to be suggesting that Latinas in Hollywood have gotten ahead solely because of this casting loophole, almost everyone—except maybe the studio bosses that enforce this unspoken code—wishes the playing field was more level. In a rare instance of candidness, b>Jessica Alba spoke out against Hollywood's typecasting tendency: "this industry definitely made me think about being a Latin girl," she told EurWeb.com in 2005. "They always want to
pigeonhole you."

The silver lining to this dark cloud may be that—more and more—Latinas are being cast in prominent leading roles. Rather than "Maria, the janitor's daughter messing around with the white kid," as Alba describes one of her early offers, Latinas get to play journalists, cops, college students, and other relatively well-rounded women. In I am Legend, which opens this weekend, Hollywood newcomer Alice Braga snagged one of only five speaking parts, as one of Will Smith's fellow survivors. It may be a stretch to call that progress, but hopefully as America sees more diversity in front of the camera, love will truly become colorblind.

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'I agree! I just commented the exact same thing regarding Gina Torres and Tatianna Ali on Latina's blog before reading your comments. Latina magazine doesnt' have any black or brown women in their magazine, so they are guilty of the exact same thing!' zette, April 10, 2008 - 10:39pm

'That was certainly an optimistic article about Hollywood... If nothing else you should at least notice that it is not Latinas getting the parts- it's Latinas that fit the description getting the parts- they may be breaking stereotypical roles, but at the expense of embracing and reinforcing stereotypical ideas and images. Gina Torres is Latina pero she has never been cast as one and neither has Tatyana Ali... But what can we expect when the same is true in our movies? Our television? Our books? Our magazines? Our media uses the same images the US uses with a dogged tenacity. We want to "celebrate" and "embrace" our culture, but in reality we don't. I hear often the "now everyone wants to look like us- full lips, curves, small waist, big butts" while at the same time highlighting our European heritage and downplaying where we got those "exotic" looks and music, dance, and food. We also ignore those of us that don't fit the description. We are only hurting ourselves our children, and those that think they are learning who we really are. Our children, especially the first generation born and raised here on are breaking from our history AND the history of those in this country- in some cases they become extremely obnoxious without any knowledge, because they are sure they know all they need to know about us-their flag, Spanish, and the music. They don't know our struggles and victories, our true diversity- I hear Puerto Rican children complain about the Blacks that go to the festival- they've grown up believing that there are no Black Puerto Ricans and very few White ones. I know Cuban Americans that did not know there was a US backed democracy in Cuba for nearly 59 years or that there were Cubans here before 1959. I know children that don't know you could not speak Spanish in this country comfortably until the last 10 or 20 years and even now some areas it is not beneficial to you or your family. When I say this I mean it was dangerous! Not just Spanish, but any language that wasn't English or French. They judge based on what they see here and what they are told- they are our representatives now and in the future and they know nothing! We cheat everyone with this harmful behavior that dates back to our colonial roots- arguably to the expulsion of the Moors from Spain. The fact is if we want to succeed- really- we must learn to hold our reality and our history in balance with our image and control it- don't let it control us. The US media and Hollywood are fickle. The fact is popularity for minorities comes in waves and the same description is used for all of us- if you really look the stereotypes are the same also- if we want to stop the cycle- we have to start defining ourselves properly and within the context of knowledge about our various countries of origin. ' lacumaican, March 7, 2008 - 2:03am