Chicano Images


Book Description

Providing textual analysis of 12 feature films written and directed by filmmakers who explore aspects of the Chicano cultural movement, this book discusses films including Cheech and Chong's Still Smokin' (1983), El Norte (1985), and Break of Dawn (1988). The text analyzes the portrayal of Chicano, or Mexican American, identity in films by chicanos. Part historiography, part film analysis, part ethnography, this book offers a compelling story of how Chicanos challenge, subvert and create their own popular portrayals of Chicanismo. Historical stereotypical images in Hollywood films are discussed alongside contemporary images portrayed by Hollywood studios and independent Chicano filmmakers. The author examines the way in which newer films "construct new representations of Chicano culture" and present a greater variety of images of Chicanos for mainstream audiences. Originally published in 1996, this authoritative volume provides a full history of the Chicano cultural movement beginning in the 1960s as well as information on the development of Mexican American film production.




Chicano Images in Film


Book Description




Latino Images in Film


Book Description

The bandido, the harlot, the male buffoon, the female clown, the Latin lover, and the dark lady—these have been the defining, and demeaning, images of Latinos in U.S. cinema for more than a century. In this book, Charles Ramírez Berg develops an innovative theory of stereotyping that accounts for the persistence of such images in U.S. popular culture. He also explores how Latino actors and filmmakers have actively subverted and resisted such stereotyping. In the first part of the book, Berg sets forth his theory of stereotyping, defines the classic stereotypes, and investigates how actors such as Raúl Julia, Rosie Pérez, José Ferrer, Lupe Vélez, and Gilbert Roland have subverted stereotypical roles. In the second part, he analyzes Hollywood's portrayal of Latinos in three genres: social problem films, John Ford westerns, and science fiction films. In the concluding section, Berg looks at Latino self-representation and anti-stereotyping in Mexican American border documentaries and in the feature films of Robert Rodríguez. He also presents an exclusive interview in which Rodríguez talks about his entire career, from Bedhead to Spy Kids, and comments on the role of a Latino filmmaker in Hollywood and how he tries to subvert the system.







The Bronze Screen


Book Description

Explores Chicana and Chicano popular culture through contemporary representations in both Hollywood commercial and independent cinema. Rosa Linda Fregoso's The Bronze Screen opens the way for international debate on the new critical field of Chicano/a cinema. Fregoso provides an incisive articulation of the ways in which narrative codes in film can telescope complex versions of Mexican and American culture and history. The often violent impact of 'first' (U.S.) and 'third' (Mexico) world cultures and geographies is channeled through the very term Chicano/a as well as its cinematic representation. Fregoso's masterful critique brings out with great clarity the irony, paradox, and contradictions of such historical collisions. --Norma Alarcón, University of California, Berkeley




Projecting Ethnicity and Race


Book Description

This comprehensive annotated bibliography reviews nearly 500 English-language studies published between 1915 and 2001 that examine the depiction of ethnic, racial, and national groups as portrayed in United States feature films from the inception of cinema through the present. Coverage includes books, reference works, book chapters within larger works, and individual essays from collections and anthologies. Concise annotations provide content summaries; unique features; major films and filmmakers discussed; and useful information on related titles, purpose, and intended readership. The studies included range from specialized scholarly treatises to popular illustrated books for general readers, making ^IProjecting Ethnicity and Race^R an invaluable resource for researchers interested in ethnic and racial film imagery. Entries are arranged alphabetically by title for easy access, while four separate indexes make the work simple to navigate by author, subject, gender, race, ethnic group, nationality, country, religion, film title, filmmaker, performer, or theme. Although the majority of studies published examine images of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Asians in film, the volume contains studies of groups including Africans, Arabs, the British, Canadians, South Sea Islanders, Tibetans, Buddhists, and Muslims—making it a unique reference book with a wide range of uses for a wide range of scholars.




Chicano Images


Book Description




Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society


Book Description

This encyclopedia offers a comprehensive look at the roles race and ethnicity play in society and in our daily lives. Over 100 racial and ethnic groups are described, with additional thematic essays offering insight into broad topics that cut across group boundaries and which impact on society.




Chicano-Chicana Americana


Book Description

Chicano-Chicana Americana is a cultural history of Mexican Americans in film, television, and theater. Through biographical sketches of performers such as Anthony Quinn, Katy Jurado, Robert Beltran, and Lupe Ontiveros, this work asserts Mexican Americans’ proper place in the national narratives of our collective imaginary. Conveying a multicentered, polycultural America, this book shows us intriguing performers in bit parts who steal the scene and redefine what it means to be American. Each biographical chapter analyzes an underappreciated actor, revealing their artistic contributions to U.S. common culture. Their long-shot careers tell a tale of players taking action with agency and fighting for screen time and equal opportunity despite disadvantages and differential treatment in Hollywood. These dynamic and complex individuals altered cinematic representations—and audience expectations—by surpassing stereotypes. The book explores American national character by showing how ethnic Mexicans attained social and cultural status through fair, open competition without a radical realignment of political or economic structures. Their creative achievements demanded dignity and earned respect. Anthony Macías argues that these performances demonstrated a pop culture pluralism that subtly changed mainstream America, transforming it from the mythological past of the Wild West to the speculative future of science fiction.




Latina/o Sexualities


Book Description

Latina/os are currently the largest minority population in the United States. They are also one of the fastest growing. Yet, we have very limited research and understanding of their sexualities. Instead, stereotypical images flourish even though scholars have challenged the validity and narrowness of these images and the lack of attention to the larger social context. Gathering the latest empirical work in the social and behavioral sciences, this reader offers us a critical lens through which to understand these images and the social context framing Latina/os and their sexualities. Situated at the juncture of Latina/o studies and sexualities studies, Latina/o Sexualities provides a single resource that addresses the current state of knowledge from a multidisciplinary perspective. Contributors synthesize and critique the literature and carve a separate space where issues of Latina/o sexualities can be explored given the limitations of prevalent research models. This work compels the current wave in sexuality studies to be more inclusive of ethnic minorities and sets an agenda that policy makers and researchers will find invaluable.