I enjoyed this - thanks. It's yet another data point related to the challenges in studying culture. Culture matters and when something matters poltics is inevitable. And when things get political the neutral researcher is history and trust breaks down.
Yeah it really does feel like they had a thesis and mucked with the data to prove it. It’s frustrating because a more honest, objective study might have produced more realistic evidence. Steohen Follows is going to do a followup which I hope sheds some better light on how casts, audiences, box office, ROI and diversity actually intertwine.
Here’s what’s going on from from someone in the community: For the last 5 years, Gen Z Latinos have complained about how cheesy Latino centered screenplays are (unbeknownst to them, most of these are written by Latino elites of color or white Latinos AND are being butchered by non Latino producers so that they’re understood by all races.) There’s been many viral tik toks about the ways “Latino characters speak on Netflix shows and movies.”
Let’s compare with Tik Tok viewership. Latino tik tok creators get millions of views from Latino viewers because they reflect low income Latino / non elite Latino ways of speaking — @crystalactic is the fastest growing Latina creator right now. She’s low income and clearly not a white or elite Latina. You can also request a tik tok creator for a change, and you’ll see it immediately, but Hollywood producers take eons to change.
Similarly, Latinos listen to Latin musicians — bad bunny was not born an elite, for example. Creating music and tik toks has a lower barrier for entry for low income Latinos than making films.
If Hollywood keeps hiring only white Latino writers or elite Latinos of color who butcher our stories or write Latino stories for white audiences, then Latino audiences will continue to not prioritize them. Even West Side Story which tried to fix the casting was still ultimately swag-less in Spielberg’s hands IMO. No one in my Latino family cared to go watch it.
That's fascinating. I've been noticing this severe underrepresentation in the Latino community over and over again and was wondering what some of the sources might be. I have seen studies that Latinos have the highest number of working class members of any subgroup as well.
Exactly! I wish I could put Goodfellas through the “Netflix effect” blender so folks outside of our community could see how much they massacre our culture 😂 Maybe Henry Hill would be cursing less and making pizzas instead of rich cause and gravy right before he got caught. I know Scorsese fought hard to represent his community well.
Outside of the US born Latino community, it’s also worth mentioning that the top Mexican directors were rich elites as well. I was recently watching the Netflix documentary of Juan Gabriel’s life — in a decisive moment of his career, the poor born man had to perform in front of rich Mexican high society to prove he was high art. Who was in the audience? A young Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Now with Cuaron, I could not connect to his depiction of a poor indigenous woman at all as a poor Mexican myself in Roma. She felt like a prop with zero sauce. Beautiful cinematography though! (Side note: it is possible to write well about people outside your identity, but extremely hard. If David Foster Wallace could make tennis academy players interesting, then rich folks don’t /need/ to write about poor people to have depth.)
I enjoyed this - thanks. It's yet another data point related to the challenges in studying culture. Culture matters and when something matters poltics is inevitable. And when things get political the neutral researcher is history and trust breaks down.
Yeah it really does feel like they had a thesis and mucked with the data to prove it. It’s frustrating because a more honest, objective study might have produced more realistic evidence. Steohen Follows is going to do a followup which I hope sheds some better light on how casts, audiences, box office, ROI and diversity actually intertwine.
Here’s what’s going on from from someone in the community: For the last 5 years, Gen Z Latinos have complained about how cheesy Latino centered screenplays are (unbeknownst to them, most of these are written by Latino elites of color or white Latinos AND are being butchered by non Latino producers so that they’re understood by all races.) There’s been many viral tik toks about the ways “Latino characters speak on Netflix shows and movies.”
Let’s compare with Tik Tok viewership. Latino tik tok creators get millions of views from Latino viewers because they reflect low income Latino / non elite Latino ways of speaking — @crystalactic is the fastest growing Latina creator right now. She’s low income and clearly not a white or elite Latina. You can also request a tik tok creator for a change, and you’ll see it immediately, but Hollywood producers take eons to change.
Similarly, Latinos listen to Latin musicians — bad bunny was not born an elite, for example. Creating music and tik toks has a lower barrier for entry for low income Latinos than making films.
If Hollywood keeps hiring only white Latino writers or elite Latinos of color who butcher our stories or write Latino stories for white audiences, then Latino audiences will continue to not prioritize them. Even West Side Story which tried to fix the casting was still ultimately swag-less in Spielberg’s hands IMO. No one in my Latino family cared to go watch it.
Edit: some things for readability.
That's fascinating. I've been noticing this severe underrepresentation in the Latino community over and over again and was wondering what some of the sources might be. I have seen studies that Latinos have the highest number of working class members of any subgroup as well.
Exactly! I wish I could put Goodfellas through the “Netflix effect” blender so folks outside of our community could see how much they massacre our culture 😂 Maybe Henry Hill would be cursing less and making pizzas instead of rich cause and gravy right before he got caught. I know Scorsese fought hard to represent his community well.
Outside of the US born Latino community, it’s also worth mentioning that the top Mexican directors were rich elites as well. I was recently watching the Netflix documentary of Juan Gabriel’s life — in a decisive moment of his career, the poor born man had to perform in front of rich Mexican high society to prove he was high art. Who was in the audience? A young Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Now with Cuaron, I could not connect to his depiction of a poor indigenous woman at all as a poor Mexican myself in Roma. She felt like a prop with zero sauce. Beautiful cinematography though! (Side note: it is possible to write well about people outside your identity, but extremely hard. If David Foster Wallace could make tennis academy players interesting, then rich folks don’t /need/ to write about poor people to have depth.)
It did always sit strangely with me that Cuaron essentially made a love letter to his own maid.