Instructions:
Write commentaries in Yapp
on the actresses and actors addressing the topic of Latin Lover and Latina roles. Use the
films using the articles by Ríos-Bustamante,Ramírez-Berg Keller, Noriega, Cortés, and López, , as well as the information
obtained from websites, making sure that you include in your comments the specific web
address of the sites.
Date: Wed, Sep 23, 1998 (10:45)
From: Shakira Ramos (sramos)
In the essay, "Stereotyping in Films in General and of the
Hispanic in Particular", Charles Ramírez Berg writes about stereotyping, "It is
important to begin to fathom how a dominant group assigns selective characteristics to
other people- social, cultural, political, sexual, racial, class, and ethnic" (Berg,
105). It is through films like Four Horsemen and the Apocalypse and The Mark of
Zorro that these stereotypes are presented. The writers and producers have assigned
characteristics to the actor/actress to create images and stereotypes. In the essay,
"Latino Participation in the Hollywood Film Industry, 1911-1945", Antonio
Ríos-Bustamente mentions how"...universal cross-cultural communication qualities
characteristic of the silent film, which "spoke" through images to all
nations". Thus, it is the behavior, appearance and actions of the characters that
become key in silent films. It was actors like Rudolph Valentino in Four
Horsemen and the Apocalypse and Douglas Fairbanks in The Mark of Zorro that
helped create some of the images towards Latinos. Both actors helped create the popular
Hispanic stereotype of the Latin Lover.
The film, Four Horsemen and the Apocalypse, brings up issues of
immigration, assimilation, mix-breeding and stereotyping. They are three ethnic groups
presented in the film, the Germans, the French and the Spanish. From the beginning the
Spanish culture is presented through Madariaga. When Madariaga has to wake up a mestizo,
the images that are presented is that they are lazy, dirty, and uneducated. The Spanish
people are seen as people who like to party frequently. Dancing becomes a way of
expression for the Spanish. Both the native Argentinean dance known as the tango and then
the Spaniard dance of el flamenco are shown in the film. The tango becomes an important
issue in the film. Julio Desnoyers, Madariaga's grandson who is half Argentinean and half
French, is known for his impressive tango dancing. Lori K. Martin in the review of
"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" writes, "While the old man
[Madariaga] drinks and watches, the young man does the Tango into the wee hours of the
morning. 'Encouraged by an indulgent grandfather who was his ideal- what chance had Julio
Desnoyers but to become a youthful libertine?". In other words, those who
liked to dance the Tango were persons who lived an irresponsible and immortal life. That
is why Julio's mother tells Madariaga when he is teaching her daughter how to tango,
"Is it not enough to lead my son into wild ways without teaching my daughter to
tango". She did not want her daughter to also live an irresponsible life like both
her father and son. There is a stereotype presented in that all those who danced the Tango
were like Julio who lived on the wild side. Therefore, not only did Hispanics like to
party but were also wild and needed other cultures to help them succeed.
One of the other culture which was favored were the French. Madariaga
did not mind having a French son-in-law and desired to have a grandson from the mix
marriage in order to pass down the inheritance. The French were seen as lovers, loyal to
the country and extravagant. Julio's father showed how French people were overly
extravagant because the only thing that he wanted to do was buy expensive things for the
castle which later on was destroyed during the war. "Marcelo has
become obsessed with bargain hunting and frequents auctions in his spare time- his entire
purpose for living focused on the acquisition of things" . The French were loyal
because were always proud to bear their flag no matter in what conditions. On the other
hand, the Germans were depicted differently from the French. They were seen as those who
only though about money, control and education. Madariaga did not want to leave his three
grandsons who were half Argentinean and half German his inheritance. He tells his eldest
daughter, Julio's mother, "Will you have the boy grow up like those glass-eyed,
carrot-topped sharks of your sister's?". The word shark implies a negative
connotation in which the Germans are seen as money hungry. When Madariaga leaves his
inheritance to both his daughters, the German husband tells his wife that now they can
return to the "Fatherland" where his sons can receive an education. There is a
sense of superiority from the Germans towards the Spaniards.
The film also introduces "the temporary but phenomenal popularity
of the Latin Lover..."(Ríos-Bustamante, 21). Berg writes about the Latin Lover,
"This stereotype we owe to one star: Rudolph Valentino... all maintaining the erotic
combination of characteristics instituted by Valentino: suavity and sensuality, tenderness
and sexual danger" Berg, 115). It is the Tango scene in which he seductively dances
with the woman and flings her to ground, that makes a deep impression on his
characteristic as a lover. Martin describes the action, "Suddenly, he
beats the man to the ground with his coiled stock whip and takes over the girl, guiding
her into the kind of lazy tango he had often done in dancing exhibitions, both of them
sagging sensually at the knees, the woman clasped to his body with unambiguous firmness.
The dance ends with him brutally pressing his mouth over hers" . The description
proves his suavity and sensuality. Martin writes, "...he is
worshipped by his models and by his loyal secretary". Julio is loved and admired
by many women, again making him a lover. Julio also meets a married woman who he falls in
love with, even though she is married he is interested in his attraction and sets about
seducing her thus having an affair with her. The question is then, is he really a Latin
Lover? Latin Lovers seem to have a characteristic of being "machista" but yet
Julio fails to show that. Julio allows a woman to control his feelings and is seen as weak
for not wanting at first to go to war like the rest of the guys.
Douglas Fairbanks in the film The Mark of Zorro, also presents
typical Hispanic stereotypes and introduces a Latin Lover. The film presents a difference
between the upper class and the lower class. When riding into the town, the people of the
town are shown as dirty, with rags as clothes and their faces are dirty. Then there is the
noble class like Don Diego who are dressed in nice clean clothes and have beautiful homes.
Then there is also the bandidos who have to fight against Zorro in command of the governor
who are portrayed as greasers. In the film, these greasers are viewed as violent,
rebellious, heavy drinkers, dumb, and as a joke. Berg writes, "His[the bandidos]
roots go back to the villains of the silent "greaser" films and he continued to
appear in many westerns... His reactions are emotional, irrational and usually violent;
his intelligence is severely limited, resulting in flawed strategies. He is dirty and
unkempt- usually displaying an unshaved face; missing teeth; and disheveled, oily
hair"(Berg, 113). In the film, Zorro is "a champion of the oppressed" where
he punishes and protects against the oppressed. It is Zorro and not Don Diego that
portrays the Latin Lover. As Don Diego he does his best to alienate himself from the girl
his father wants him to marry. Don Diego's actions are more feminine. He walks, stands and
sits differently then other men. Don Diego also enjoys doing puppets with his
handkerchief. His father is upset that his son is not truly a "men" because he
does not like to hang out with the rest of the men and drink with them. The girl is so
upset at Don Diego for not being like other men who try to win the girl's affection that
she tells her parents, "He isn't a man, he's a fish". On the other hand, Zorro
is more manly with his sword and his athletic abilities. Zorro also plays a great lover
role where he tries to seduce the girl. He uses metaphors of roses and pick up lines. He
even has sword fights for the love of the girl. He then attracts the girl this way.
Zorro's true identity is then revealed and he still ends up with the girl. Zorro's actions
of seducing the girl is a true sign of a Latin Lover.
Berg describes how stereotypes play an important role in Anglos lives
because it is "this stereotype- standing in sharp contrast to the Anglo hero - has
another effect: it reinforces the cleanliness, sobriety, sanity, overall decency, and
moral rectitude of the Wasp in the white hat" (Berg, 111). Ironically enough, both of
the Latin Lovers are not true Latinos instead they are played by Anglos.
Date: Mon, Sep 28, 1998 (14:39)
From: Shakira Ramos (sramos)
Before the Good Neighbor Policy (1939-47) in which Hollywood became
interested in Latin America, there were not many Latinas and Latinos in positive roles.
Ana M. López in her article, "Are all Latins from Manhattan? Hollywood, Ethnography,
and Cultural Colonialism" writes, "After decades of portraying Latin American
lackadaisically and sporadically as lazy peasants and wily señoritas who inhabited an
undifferentiated backward, Hollywood films between 1939- 1947, featuring Latin America
stars, music, locations and stories flooded U.S. and international markets" (López,
407). The Latin actresses that made the era popular and entertaining were: Dolores del
Río, Lupe Vélez,
and Carmen Miranda.
During 1930-1945 two words that was used to describe the role of the
Latinas was "Sensuality and Frivolity". Carmen Miranda was known for her
frivolity characteristic. She was to entertain and make the audience laugh. In the
article, "Chicanas in the Film: History of an Image", Carlos E. Cortés writes,
"Whether dancing the samba with a bizarre headdress, belting out a hotly rhythmed
Latin song, or speaking heavily accented lines, Carmen Miranda seldom had the opportunity
to escape from frivolity" (Cortés, 130). She was to act silly for the audience. It
was this amusement which made lots of money for Hollywood. "Her validity as Latin
American" was based on a rhetoric of visual excess- of costumes, performance,
sexuality, and musically- that carried over into the mode of address of the films
themselves" (López, 410).
Dolores Del Río was the exact opposite of Carmen Miranda. "Her
claim to screen fame was sensuality, a special kind of cool sensuality, consistently
restrained and ladylike" (Cortés, 130). Dolores was mostly known for her sexual
figures that would make the guys fantasize with her more than be entertained. She had a
career from the silent era to the early sound eras. "Undeniably Latin American, del
Río was not, however, identified exclusively with Latin roles" (López, 410). Due to
the fact that she was light skinned, he could pass as a "foreign/other". She had
the power to cause sexual threats to Anglo men. "As Carlos Fuentes has remarked, del
Río was 'a goddess threatening to become woman,' and neither category-goddess or woman-
was appropriate to Hollywood' self-appointed mission as goodwill imperialist ethnographer
of the Americas" (López, 412). In other words, Hollywood did not allow her to be
herself instead she had to be what they wanted her to be, sexual. Tired of how Hollywood
stereotyped Latinas, she returned to Mexico to star in more Mexican films.
"Tempestuous
Mexican actress Lupe Vélez parlayed her voluptuous figure and tireless energy into a
South-of-the-Border musical comedy career before she was 20" . Lupe Vélez
combines both frivolity and sensuality. López writes, "But Vélez's position in
Hollywood was defined not by her acting versatility, but by her smoldering ethnic
identifiability. Although as striking as del Rio's, Vélez beauty and sexual appeal were
aggressive, flamboyant and stridently ethnic" (López, 412). Both quotations make
emphasis on her figure and not much on her ability to act. As seen it became important to
have beauty in order to be known and recognized. Like del Río her sexuality was powerful
and threatening.
Both Vélez's and Del Río's had ethnic and sexual power. At the time
of the Good Neighbor policy these were characteristic that Hollywood did not want to
emphasize. Hollywood did not want to give female roles the power they had over males with
their sexual appeals. López writes, "What Hollywood's Good Neighbor regime demanded
was the articulation of a different female star persona that could be readily identifiable
as Latin American but whose sexuality was neither too attractive (to dispel the
fear-attraction of miscegenation) nor so powerful as to demand its submission to a
conquering North American male" (López, 414). That is why Carmen Miranda became
popular after Vélez and Del Río. Her sexual appeals were not as powerful as the other
two to demand much from the men. What all three actresses had in common was that they had
to be superficial for their roles and they were all light skinned.
Date: Tue, Sep 29, 1998 (22:34)
From: Shakira Ramos (sramos)
Both movies Flying down to Rio and Mexican Spitfire presented two
different interpretation of Latina Vamps. Dolores del Rio in Flying down to Rio was
portrayed as vicious and deceiving. She dominated over Anglos males emotions. She had the
power to drive the Anglo character, Rodger, crazy for her and he even to risks just to be
with her. Dolores barely had an accent and if it was not for her dark hair, she could pass
as white. Dolores used her beauty to have power over two lovers. Dolores' dancing can also
be interpreted as exotic and sexual.
In the movie Mexican Spitfire, Lupe Velez is the opposite of Dolores. Even though
the movie was interesting and humorous, I felt it portrayed Latinas in a negative way.
From the start of the movie, when the aunt says "Mexican wildcat" the tone for
the movie is set. Lupe is presented as wild, "big mouthed", ignorant, dixie and
dumb. She also has a heavy accent which makes her stand out from the rest of the
characters. She is also seen as a slut when they mention "loose".
In my opinion I would prefer to be associated with Dolores who even though can be seen as
a Vamp, can also be seen as a high-class, educated, mysterious and one who knows how to
act like a lady Latina. Instead of being the loud and obnoxious Latina.
