#hispanic stereotypes

[blackinkroses]

I'm having some difficulty with a character concept that I came up with and I'm trying to avoid a stereotypical representation while creating him and his brother. I am white.

The character is a male queer Hispanic man (from Puerto Rico) with a dark, olive-ish skin tone named Terry Lobo. He's the main character's love interest and neighbor and has a big part of the story (the mc is black and nonbinary, if that matters). He was born in mainland USA and lives with his mother and his niece. His family all has the ability to turn into wolves, tho I haven't decided if I want it to be a more werewolf styled (transformations with the moon and crap) or have it be completely voluntary.

The main thing I'm worried about is that both him and his brother have criminal pasts involving stealing. Terry is on probation and has a lot of shame with his past, but his brother is still stealing and is actually part of the main group of antagonists, who are magic artifact smugglers. I'm worried mainly because criminal stereotypes are often shoved on POC men, and smuggling is especially associated with Hispanic people, but I don't want to remove that aspect because the brother, again, is one of the main antagonists and is meant to be a foil to Terry, and Terry being on probation and taking it seriously represents him trying to become better.

So, I'm just wondering, is my character too stereotypical, or can I use both him and the brother so long and I am sensitive about it? I may be able to make some changes, as Terry and his family are still being developed. The criminality is not directly tied to the race of the characters, and I intend to put more Hispanic/Latino characters. I just haven't found anything online and I've received some good advice here before so... Yeah. Any advice from Hispanic writers or anyone in general is appreciated!

[mibodegaagency]

Hispanic Stereotypes in the Media

On our way to see the movie Jack and Jill this past Thanksgiving weekend, a discussion in the car started about that way that we, as Hispanics are portrayed in the media. My cousin, Veronica Matias, very poignant on the issue passionately spoke, “Where’s the Hispanic Disney Princess? – Are we expected to associate ourselves with the Caucasian one, or is Tiana our salvation?” Either way, I completely understood her point- Hispanics come from a range of backgrounds, just like African Americans and Caucasians and should not be distinguished based on skin color or similarity in appearance- our identity should and needs to be represented in the media. Matias continued to say, “we are not all maids, baby sitters, house cleaners, or gardeners. Not all of us are illegal immigrants either”. Unfortunately, the media does a pretty good job of portraying just this. Very ironically, the movie we had gone to watch, Jack and Jill, also added my cousin’s anger, as the only Hispanic character in the movie, Felipe, was, in fact, a gardener. Despite consistently ‘just kidding’ about his self-stereotypes like him ‘jumping the border’, or being the ‘on-call helper’, Felipe certainly embodied the many descriptions usually attributed to Hispanics. In an exclusive interview with Latina.com, the actor, Eugenio Derbez, responded to the negativity, saying, “People are never happy,” he told us. “They’re always complaining about something – if they see a Latino star portraying a gardener, they may get mad because they think it’s a “stereotype” of a gardener. And if they put a [non-Latino] star [in the role], they complain because it’s not a Mexican, but an American playing a Mexican.” Derbez added that he is a good friend with a few gardeners and he is proud of portraying one in the film (Latina.com).However, no matter what the actors themselves feel about their role, one this is certain: the media has a direct and very powerful impact on society and its views. Therefore, I firmly believe that if these stereotypes do not decrease significantly on what is presented in the media, likewise, society will maintain them.

[baneenar]

I don't even like hot sauce. 

I'm perfectly content with burning in hell btw, so come at me. <3