Hispanic Slip-up in Hollywood

The movie has caused such a stir in the United States that The New York Times started its review with the line: “Why is Will Ferrel speaking Spanish in his new film?” The actor stars in “Casa de Mi Padre,” which he himself has defined as a telenovela/spaghetti western that revolves around Armando Álvarez (Ferrel), son of a Mexican rancher. When the family faces a financial hardship, his brother reappears and – due to his experience in (shady) international business – promises to save the farm. To make the plot more complex, Armando falls in love with his brother’s girlfriend, which leads to several family feuds that end with them facing a Mexican drug cartel.

So far, “Casa de Mi Padre” is a modest success in the United States; it opened last weekend and earned ninth place in the box office and an estimated $2.2 million, though it reached an incredible per-theater average of $6,091, in spite of being almost entirely in Spanish. Nevertheless, it has also revived the old criticism of Hollywood industry for bringing back clichés that Hispanics would like to see buried. “Older generations of Hispanics are concerned about the image that represents them, and this is the worst they could see,” said Rubén Navarrete, CNN columnist and political analyst.

The striking fact about this film, says the analyst, is that the main role has been given to a white American. In contrast, roles such as the brother involved in shady dealings (Diego Luna) and the drug cartel leader (Gael García Bernal) are played by Hispanic actors. To complete the list of stereotypes that have restricted almost all Hispanic characters that have emerged from the American film industry, male characters exude boldness and courage, and the girlfriend (Génesis Rodríguez, daughter of El Puma) has all the qualities attributed by default to Latin women. There is violence and passion, desert and mariachis.

And the film that pretends to mock the image of Latinos that Americans have built is very likely to reinforce the foundations where it settles from the beginning. “Hollywood, except for Washington, may be the last place in this country where people find out things have changed,” says Navarrete. “The community of Hispanic actors regrets that the most important roles were not given to any of them.”

Navarrete has, moreover, put forward that the movie industry would be sending a clear message: that the main role should be given to a WASP and that the film should be valued because most of the roles are played by Hispanic actors.

During the ’40s and ’50s, it was the image of the Mexican lying under a cactus with his face covered by a sombrero. In the ’60s, they were the workers of the land; in the ’70s, the servants. In the ’80s, the show “Miami Vice” portrayed them as drug dealers. In the ’90s, gangs appeared. And in the first decade of the 21st century, came the show “Desperate Housewives,” with Eva Longoria playing the role of a frivolous, adulterous and sexy Hispanic woman that would do anything to get away with murder. This show could also leave as a legacy a spin-off featuring four babysitters from California, also Hispanic. “Frustration comes because the Latino community has lived and performed its own progress, but when it comes to seeing themselves represented in films or television, they feel they are forced to take a step backward,” says Navarrete. In other words, Hollywood has failed again in its desperate longing to attract the Hispanic audience with Hispanic films. Something achieved with the Afro-American community with sagas such as Barbershop, or comedians such as Tyler Perry, one of the greatest box office draws of all time, starring in films as his female alter ego, Madea.

“If art reflects life, then Hollywood films reflected the most common images of people of color within their time’s context, sometimes racist and often stereotypical,” writes historian Frank Javier García in his work, “The Image of the Chicano/Hispanic in the American Film Industry.” “Hence, the Hispanic is inevitably portrayed as lazy, unintelligent, greasy, criminal and foreign. His cultural, economic and historical contributions have never been documented or appreciated.”

And maybe “Casa de Mi Padre” has made the same mistake. The film arrives late and could be interpreted as a slap on the Hispanic community’s face, which has already surpassed every single cliché seen on screen in Hollywood – even though the intention of the film is just to mock them.