ABOUT: Synopsis & Trailer
LATINOS BEYOND REEL: Challenging A Media Stereotype.
LATINOS BEYOND REEL IS A HARD-HITTING DOCUMENTARY ABOUT HOW LATINOS ARE MARGINALIZED AND VILIFIED IN THE U.S. MEDIA—WITH GRAVE CONSEQUENCES.
Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population - and among the most diverse (with origins to more than 20 countries) – accounting for one in six adults and one in four children. Yet across the media landscape, from the broadcast airwaves to cable television and Hollywood film, the reality and richness of the Latino experience is rarely depicted in mainstream media.
In LATINOS BEYOND REEL, filmmakers Miguel Picker and Chyng Sun examine how U.S. news and entertainment media portray – and do not portray – Latinos. Drawing on the insights of Latino scholars, journalists, community leaders, actors, directors, and producers, they uncover a pattern of gross misrepresentation and gross under-representation – a world in which Latinos tend to appear, if at all, as gangsters and Mexican bandits, harlots and prostitutes, drug dealers, welfare-leeching illegals, and ultimately as a drain and threat to American society. In the end, the film shows us how a narrow range of distorted images allowed to stand for an entire population can blind us to the full humanity of the real people they represent, and ultimately challenges viewers to consider what alternatives are necessary.
Most disturbingly, children’s games and cartoons contain violent connotations against Latinos. This film documents the history, evolution, and meanings of these images, and how they deeply and harmfully affect Latinos, and the nation as a whole.
LATINOS BEYOND REEL is a powerful film that takes a dynamic look at media literacy, and provides the perfect forum to initiate a discussion on the matter going forward.
84 Minutes. 2013. HD.
