Gomez 1

Luis Gomez

Professor Lawson

English 113B

17 April 2017

Research Paper

Word Count 1609

We See It but Dont See It

People react so differently to many situations. Those who watch big screen movies in the

theaters may not always catch racism in a film unless someone points it out. Most movies are

divided by race which reflects how much we fear each other as a human race. Most actors are

racially white which divides actors into casting or playing role in a part that doesnt match their

background of origin. Some movies do depict people racially in a negative way by using

stereotypes. Minority actors are underrepresented in films and characters from minority groups

are often depicted as unimportant or as minor. Because of this, racist stereotypes and the

marginalization of minority films and perspectives has been allowed to flourish in society.

The media has grown over the century to the point where racism has been used in

movies. Sponsored films usually have white actors and have Latinos in their movies but Latinos

are viewed as unimportant. Latinos are rarely the protagonist unless its a movie about a Latino.

There is some bias going on. When a Latino is playing a role in a movie or on a television show

(mostly in movies) most Latinos actors portray themselves as bad people without even noticing.

According to the article Portrayal of Minorities in the Film, Media and Entertainment

Industries, minorities, more specifically African-Americans and Latino-Americans are the

casualty of a media that perpetuates social stereotypes and ethnic homogeneity (same) by
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Brown. As people watch films people will think that all underrepresented minorities are drug

addicts or rapists. If this is allowed then people will assume that the acting is real. For example,

if a minority person in a movie does an act of violence then the audience will think that this is

how underrepresented (Latinos, Africans, etc.) act in real life. Some people do think that Latinos

are just drug addicts just because of a misrepresentation in a film.

Latinos are now playing roles in movies but there is a pattern that people must realize.

Most protagonists are white and may have a colleague who isnt white. That person may be

Latino or a person of color. Did you ever notice the antagonist in films? The characters are

almost never white. According to the article, Latino Portrayal in the Media Films, the article

states, when Latinos are present in different forms of media, very consistent type of Latino are

portrayed. Usually it is a person who has darker features, tanner skin, and an accent. By

Gulman. The media does this on purpose to give a hidden message to the audience. The message

people see subliminally is that Latinos are all the same. This right here relates to racism and

stereotypes because the people who film movies are basically saying that all people of color are

in a way the same.

On the other hand, a movie called Crash is a movie about racism and stereotypes. This

movie basically makes people confront prejudices or make people feel unwanted. According to a

scholarly article, White Power: An Analysis of Racial Tensions in Crash by Tori Goyette, she

states, The acclaimed movie earned rave reviewsquestions about racism and stereotypes

some harsh realities that are avoided on the big screens. The movie does show a lot of extreme

scenes that may be sensitive to some viewers. After September 9, 2001, a lot of people who

believe in the Muslim religion faced a lot of discrimination which was demonstrated in the films.

There is a scene where a non-Muslim person who owned a store was robbed. On the wall of the
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store there was a message saying somewhere along the lines of, die Muslims. This scene

caused the victim some confusion because they were not from the Muslim religion nor were they

Arabic. They look like they are Muslims and that is why they got targeted. They looked

Muslim because they were judged by their color of their skin.

However, just because they look Muslim doesnt mean they are. In addition, they were

also targeted racially because of their skin color and cause of their voice tone. In real life, people

do an act of violence by either killing a Muslim person or by harassing them. This scene

demonstrates how people really are. It was necessary to give a full description of this scene to

understand the context of racism and stereotypes in movies and in the real world. People who are

misrepresented in films are sometimes portrayed. This film does something else in a whole new

different level. This film makes people see how people suffer instead of depicting a person in a

film by adding stereotypes. In some other films, Muslims may play as a terrorist which enforces

stereotypes on the people who think that Muslims are all terror groups. In this case, this scene

shows that Muslim people arent terrorist groups even without a hijab. This film has portrayed

people of color in a good way to show that people from different races face prejudice and

bigotry. Goyette says, Viewers might take comfort in the notion that everyone is a little bit

racist. This film has made people consider racism much more seriously. Viewer who watched

saw maybe how they react to a person they dont like.

Underrepresented communities were heard through this movie but maybe the dominant

race didnt take it serious. Media has portrayed people in a bad and in some ways good (like the

movie Crash). The media (films) has probably used some bias towards actors but are racists

when choosing who should play a role in movie. According to the New York Post, Why Birth

of a Nation is still the most racist movie ever states that, What makes Birth most offensive is
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its depiction of its black characters all of the prominent ones performed by white actors in

blackface during Reconstruction by Lou Lumenick. Films like these show that black people

arent accepted by white people. This goes to show that it is okay for people to be unaccepted

just because of their race. This movie is racist. It also goes against what the movie is about.

Likewise, this makes people feel that white people are superior. There is a borderline and this

crossed the line; this film has taken racism into fun action. Black people cant be white people. It

doesnt make sense. Whites and blacks didnt get along because of slavery. This is how movies

play an act of racism by sugarcoating what a black person felt like in this film. This is how

movies perpetuate people into looking like a different person. The Ku Klux Klan were looking

for black people (white in the film) based on the article. This goes to show that it is okay to

sugarcoat racism in movies by hiding real history behind.

Real history is hiding in movies and people dont see it because movie directors are

hiding it. On the other hand, films such as Stand and Deliver shows that Latinos are not

criminals. Relating back to Crash that film has shown that Latinos as gang members just

because of their tattoos. Jaime Escalante was a math teacher in East Los Angeles. According to

the New York Times, Jaime Escalante, Inspiration for a Movie, Dies at 79 written by William

Grimes says that, in 1982, 18 students in the special calculus program Garfield four years

earlier took the College Boards AP test in calculusseven of them received a 5, the highest

possible score; the rest, a 4. This films shows how underrepresented and mispresented

minorities arent bad people. People whom are white are less likely to watch Latino films

because they are afraid of watching others being superior. This can be concluded because of the

research that was done by saying that films only want white protagonist such "Birth of A Nation
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and Crash. Some white people dont like to face how they use racism therefore they are less

likely to watch films related.

Movies like to depict people of color as unimportant people and have shown that by

choosing actors in movies but Stand and Deliver says otherwise. Sure, a lot of racism still

exists no matter how much the media likes to put people of color down. Grimes says They were

told that they were not good enough and would not amount to much. He told them that with

desire and discipline, they could do anything.. This is true even from personal experience.

Likewise, white people may not agree with this film as people of color start to rise as good

people because the media has painted too much negativity on people of color in almost all the

films created. People dont often see the struggles of Latinos and Africans in the United States.

Often, people like to ignore the fact if a person of color is succeeding. Mexicans like to do drugs,

Africans like to steal, and Muslims like to kill. These are all stereotypes that are enforced in

films. Not too often do people see a person from poverty growing up with a good life in films.

Latino films arent popular because people will assume that movie is about drug narcotics

which the media has already said in most films by demonstrating it visually. People are under the

influence of movies and movies has changed our perspective about people. People would have

thought differently if racism and stereotypes were not implied in films. Films like to make people

of color look bad. They arent. Its hard to make people of color look bad since so much bad

things have been done to make people from different backgrounds look bad. Movies have even

made people of color look as bad actors by using white people to be black people in films.
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Works Cited

Brown, Eric, Raagen Price, and Yurii Horten. "Portrayal of Minorities in The Film, Media And

Entrainment Industries." Stanford, 1 June 1999. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.

Grimes, William. "Jaime Escalante, Inspiration for a Movie, Dies at 79." The New York Times.

The New York Times, 31 Mar. 2010. Web. 15 Apr. 2017.

Lumenick, Lou. "Why Birth of a Nation Is Still the Most Racist Movie Ever." New York Post.

07 Feb. 2015. Web. 15 Apr. 2017.

Goyette, Tori. "White Power: An Analysis of Racial Tensions in." Fresh Ink: Essays From Boston

College's First-Year Writing Seminar. Boston College, Web. 17 Apr. 2017