Hollywood Plays it Wrong With Latino Characters

By Esther Cepeda, Washington Post Writers Group/Indianapolis Star

Hispanics, by virtue of their underdog status resulting from years of being painted as criminal immigrants by right-wing nativists, have become big-time parity scolds. Whereas not too long ago few complained about being absent in popular culture, today every little factual or fictional “first” is celebrated well out of its deserved proportion.

The first “Hispanic vice president in a movie” is seen by some as no less important a precursor to such a historic moment in real life than Morgan Freeman and Dennis Haysbert making the American public comfortable with the idea of a black president.

Worse than simply telegraphing laziness at getting casting choices right, such Hollywood oversights show a fundamental disregard for both Hispanic audiences — the Motion Picture Association of America recently reported that Hispanics buy a quarter of all tickets sold in the U.S., continuing a strong upward trend — and for the pool of talented Hispanic actors trying to find work.

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