Latinos in Hollywood Are Becoming Rare, Study Shows

Everyone loves to watch Hollywood movies. Fans all over the globe would always look forward for new movies featuring our favorite actors and actresses. But how many movies can you still remember where Latinos play major roles? According to a recent study, the number of Latinos in Hollywood is on an all-time low.

In an article published in The New York Times, a study from the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative shows that Latinos in Hollywood films are still underrepresented and their stereotypical portrayals remain fimly in place while the past few years have been dominated by the narrative that diversity and inclusion is moving towards a positive direction.

However, if Latino characters are depicted in the movie, it is very rare that the culture and ethnic heritage of the Latino is rarely explored. In the study conducted, out of 1,200 popular films released from 2007-2018 in a sample of top 100 films every year, only 4.5 percent out of 47,000 speaking or named roles went to the Latin actors, while 3 percent were leads or co-leads.

The result of the study is surprising because 77 percent of U.S states and territories have Latino population which is larger than Latino participation in the Hollywood.

In a statement released by the founder and director of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and co-author of the report Stacy Smith in the Los Angeles Times she said that in whatever way they look the participation of the Latinx in the Hollywood film they are really underrepresented because at a time where Latinx were facing concerns over their safety they need to be accurately and authentically represented in the entertainment to metaphorically addressed their issues.

The statistical result of the Latinos participation in the Hollywood film is very bad. 4 percent only were made by Latinos out of 1,200 films. Meanwhile, 71 percent of those films hailed outside U.S. and 29 percent of them were American. The worst, out of 1,335 films examined by the researchers, one 1 Latina directed a film.

The study also shows that only 3 percent were Latinx producers and most them were men while 19 of them were Latina. Moreover, the executive director of the National Association of Latino Independent Producers Benjamin Lopez said that the Latinos in Hollywood has not been prioritized in the film industry and the result of the study of Smith must be a lesson for the film makers that there should be an immense value in collaborating with and investing with the Latino community.

What about the role of the Latino in Hollywood? Does it portray Latinx culture? Or is there racial discrimination in the movie?

According to the study, 25 percent of the speaking characters in the film were depicted as criminals while 17 percent portrayed the role of having poor or low-income. This means that films with Latinx actors failed to understand the cultural artifacts, traditions and other signifiers that might help the Latinx to showcase their ethnicity.

The USC Annenberg will release the result of the study as soon as possible to give awareness to everyone on the diversity and inequality inside Hollywood films.

Read more: Latino representation in Hollywood movies is abysmal. Here's the proof and Latinos are underrepresented in Hollywood, studies find