About

This is the course blog for Dr. Annemarie Perez’s Spring 2016 course in Interdisciplinary Studies (IDS) 330 – Ethnic Representations in Film.

In this course, we will analyze representations of Chicana/Chicano, Latino/Latina, Hispanics in US film and media as a site for cultural and political visibility and discuss how Latina/o actors and filmmakers have worked to challenge and disrupt mainstream stereotypes about our communities. We will examine films, television shows, documentaries and independent work produced or transmitted by mainstream film industries, as well as media and film productions directed, performed and written by Latinos. We will discuss and compare Latin/os produced film and media with other mainstream productions in order to critically engage in the definition Latina/o representations in the United States. Most of our examples will come from the 1950s forward, with special emphasis on the contemporary period. Special attention to Latina/o cinematic constructions in multiple genres, including border films, Westerns, drug trafficking films, urban gang films, immigrant films and the moves from teatro to theater to film.