“…(Time, December 6, 1993) Portraits of Cuba and Cuban male leaders as motivated by their passions, which include anger, violence, and/or the ideology behind the Cuban revolution/Castro, tend to perpetuate the notion that Cuba is a problem. These depiction of leaders reveals themes connected to the work of previous scholars that have shown how Chicano or Latino culture, including that of Cuba, are generally depicted in terms that exaggerate men's behavior which is assumed to stem from an inadequate masculinity and that this "machismo" masculinity was created in contrast to the colonizing empires masculinity of rational calculation (Liberato et al 2009;Zinn 1980;Connell 2002). In fact, the above references draw comparisons between Che and La Fayette, and Fidel and George Washington.…”
Section: Ineffective Masculinity: Motivation Of Passionsmentioning
confidence: 85%
“…As illustrated by Collins (1990), these portrayals do not represent the actual complexity of racial and ethnic diversity. Instead, one encounters in these news stories a depiction of Cuban male leaders that because they presumably are nonwhite and most particularly because they are Latino men is in stark contrast to common portraits of hegemonic “Western” masculinities which are typified by reason or “rational calculation,” professionality or the “business masculinity” or “the marketplace man” (Zinn 1980; Connell 2002; Liberato et al 2009).…”
Section: Latino and Hypermasculinity—ineffective Masculinitymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Previous research on the portrayals of men in Latin America, mainly through the lens of machismo , has illustrated the ways in which gendered portrayals of Latin American men have been characterized by “inferiority,” namely, through blaming them for their own subordination; yet, many authors argue that this stereotyping and labeling (of machismo) has in reality functioned as a form of societal control, especially in the United States (Liberato et al 2009; Zinn 1980). One example of the resonating historical images of Latin America and Latin American men is the historical portrayal of Cubans as the “white man’s burden,” in which Cuba is usually depicted as a small black/brown child that Uncle Sam is caring for whether politically, economically, and/or ideologically (Pérez 2005; Zinn 1980).…”
Section: Latino and Hypermasculinity—ineffective Masculinitymentioning
Advancing literature on Cuban-American relations through an analysis grounded in hegemonic and relational, or "subordinate" masculinities, this work explores representations of Cuban male leaders in the US media. Using ethnographic content analysis to examine 763 articles on Cuba from 1959 to 2010 in Time and Newsweek, data reveal narratives of ineffective masculinity as articulated through emergent themes and images that portray Cuban men involved in the revolutionary or political process as (a) simultaneously hypermasculine, that is, motivated by anger, violence, or idealism and (b) hypomasculine or displaying inadequacies in either their professional efforts and/or their physical characteristics. The findings supported by ineffective masculinity add to the literature by recognizing that these male leaders are deemed deficient; however, this deficiency does not rely on tropes of femininity. It is through this analysis that one may recognize the ways in which representations of Cuban male leaders may relate but differ from portraits of other nonwhite men. These findings might reasonably pave the way for possible variations in portrayals of "ineffective masculinity" and hegemonic masculinity where future research may
“…(Time, December 6, 1993) Portraits of Cuba and Cuban male leaders as motivated by their passions, which include anger, violence, and/or the ideology behind the Cuban revolution/Castro, tend to perpetuate the notion that Cuba is a problem. These depiction of leaders reveals themes connected to the work of previous scholars that have shown how Chicano or Latino culture, including that of Cuba, are generally depicted in terms that exaggerate men's behavior which is assumed to stem from an inadequate masculinity and that this "machismo" masculinity was created in contrast to the colonizing empires masculinity of rational calculation (Liberato et al 2009;Zinn 1980;Connell 2002). In fact, the above references draw comparisons between Che and La Fayette, and Fidel and George Washington.…”
Section: Ineffective Masculinity: Motivation Of Passionsmentioning
confidence: 85%
“…As illustrated by Collins (1990), these portrayals do not represent the actual complexity of racial and ethnic diversity. Instead, one encounters in these news stories a depiction of Cuban male leaders that because they presumably are nonwhite and most particularly because they are Latino men is in stark contrast to common portraits of hegemonic “Western” masculinities which are typified by reason or “rational calculation,” professionality or the “business masculinity” or “the marketplace man” (Zinn 1980; Connell 2002; Liberato et al 2009).…”
Section: Latino and Hypermasculinity—ineffective Masculinitymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Previous research on the portrayals of men in Latin America, mainly through the lens of machismo , has illustrated the ways in which gendered portrayals of Latin American men have been characterized by “inferiority,” namely, through blaming them for their own subordination; yet, many authors argue that this stereotyping and labeling (of machismo) has in reality functioned as a form of societal control, especially in the United States (Liberato et al 2009; Zinn 1980). One example of the resonating historical images of Latin America and Latin American men is the historical portrayal of Cubans as the “white man’s burden,” in which Cuba is usually depicted as a small black/brown child that Uncle Sam is caring for whether politically, economically, and/or ideologically (Pérez 2005; Zinn 1980).…”
Section: Latino and Hypermasculinity—ineffective Masculinitymentioning
Advancing literature on Cuban-American relations through an analysis grounded in hegemonic and relational, or "subordinate" masculinities, this work explores representations of Cuban male leaders in the US media. Using ethnographic content analysis to examine 763 articles on Cuba from 1959 to 2010 in Time and Newsweek, data reveal narratives of ineffective masculinity as articulated through emergent themes and images that portray Cuban men involved in the revolutionary or political process as (a) simultaneously hypermasculine, that is, motivated by anger, violence, or idealism and (b) hypomasculine or displaying inadequacies in either their professional efforts and/or their physical characteristics. The findings supported by ineffective masculinity add to the literature by recognizing that these male leaders are deemed deficient; however, this deficiency does not rely on tropes of femininity. It is through this analysis that one may recognize the ways in which representations of Cuban male leaders may relate but differ from portraits of other nonwhite men. These findings might reasonably pave the way for possible variations in portrayals of "ineffective masculinity" and hegemonic masculinity where future research may
“…Liberato et al. (:962) similarly note the subtle yet important distinctions between white and Latino men as their gender is portrayed in film and argue as follows:Hollywood filmmakers construct ideological messages that safeguard whiteness through systematic racialization of Latino men in film. Race and ethnicity are invoked to create a limited understanding of marginality and criminality, producing inferiorization of Latinidad and Latino masculinity.…”
Section: Theoretical Background On Representation In Us Filmmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Characterizations of Colombians were polarized against the esteemed morality, bravery, and heroism of their white male counterpart. The intersection with gender demonstrates how Latino emotional vulnerability is "symbolically defined in relation to the appropriateness, wholesomeness and righteousness of the dominant white male" (Liberato et al 2009). This analysis shows how binary oppositions in racial regimes of representation (Hall 1997), beyond the black/white binary, apply to a particular group within the pan-ethnic Latino label.…”
Section: Binary Opposites: Colombian Criminal and Moral Whitementioning
In this project, we analyze the representations of Colombian and white characters in U.S. feature films. As a pervasive form of storytelling, films serve an elemental source of analysis for their role in reproducing social realities and resonating with public consciousness. Here, the specific focus upon the representation of race, racial hierarchy, gender, and nationalism produced nuanced observations that expand on sociological understandings of racism in film. Past research on representations of race in media has shown the use of binary oppositions in making difference. We find the use of binary opposition via persistent themes of criminalization of Colombia and Colombian characters alongside the prevalence of white male heroes and white morality. The importance of these cultural representations is placed within the social and political contexts of U.S.-Colombia relations and racial transitions within the United States.
IntroductionThe film Colombiana, released in 2011, and its enticing blend of replayed Latino/a stereotypes into the main character-The Harlot and El Bandido-was a catalyst for getting this research project started. Colombiana was given its name, apparently, because of its meanings of danger, violence, and gendered seduction. The film portrays an Afro-Colombiana character as a violent, vengeance-seeking woman, and plays off several recirculated stereotypes of Colombia and Colombians. 1 The naming of Colombiana draws from audiences' interpretations surrounding the identity of Colombian, explicitly marking nationality and ethnicity. While media representation of Colombians seems to consistently entail criminalizing images, sociological analysis has yet to systematically research the history of these representations and place them in the formation of race and nationality.We use content analysis to analyze how race, ethnicity, gender, and nationality are represented in U.S. feature films that focus on Colombians. We connect these representations with sociological theories of race and U.S. policy toward Colombia-this resulted in content analysis of seven U.S. films released between 1984 and 2011 (see Table 1). The analysis simply does not focus on the representation of Colombians, however. We address how the representation Past research gives insight into patterns of racialized representations of white and Latino film characters. By addressing these patterns, this project contributes to our understanding of how Colombians and Colombia have been imaged into U.S. consciousness. More specifically, answers to these questions offer guidance in theoretical understanding of how film representations may reaffirm relations of domination toward distinct marginalized groups.
Theoretical Background on Representation in U.S. Film
RepresentationThe study of how these films depict the binary of anti-Colombian stereotypes and white normativity/superiority is rooted in the assumption that these images have meaning based on social, cultural, and economic contexts. From a constructionist view, meaning, representation,...
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