Introduction

For decades, parents have been careful about what their kids see on television. When an explicit scene is coming up, parents make sure to cover their kids’ eyes to preserve their innocence. When a bloody war scene is happening, parents tell their kids to play with their toys for a little bit to prevent any mild trauma. However, parents of Latino kids have a longer list of scenes to hide from their kids. Why is that?

Well, after watching a film, kids tend to say, “I want to be like the hero of the movie!” This is normal because, well, they are easily impressionable. When these young Latino kids, and kids in general, see the hero they want to be like, they begin to impersonate them. This means they start to alter their personality to match the hero’s, but this is usually a temporary change. A more permanent change occurs in the long run, though, and that is what they think they should look like to be like their hero. When it comes to characters such as Spiderman or Cinderella, it’s easy to tell your Latino kids that just because their skin color doesn’t match Spiderman’s or Cinderella’s, it doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of being a superhero or a princess. However, when Latino kids repeatedly watch movies in which the superhero or princess always look a certain way, it makes it ten times more difficult for them to believe what their parents (you) are saying to them.

The underrepresentation of Latinos in movies has altered the mind of Latino youth in such a way that they have begun to feel as though they are not capable of holding certain positions. What exactly does it mean to be underrepresented? Well, in the case of Latinos, it means that although they make up 18.1% of the United States population, less than 5 percent of about 50,000 speaking roles that researches studied went to Latino actors [2]. As for animated films, there are a couple of recent films that have been able to consistently represent Latin culture in a positive light. One of those films is Disney Pixar’s Coco, a film published in 2017. Coco serves as a great source for Latin youth to gain insight into what Latin culture is like, more specifically in Mexico since that is where the film takes place. The film accomplishes this insight through details such as the clothes worn by characters and including the traditions that happen on Day of the Dead. Through movies such as Coco, you are able to entertain your kids while they learn to appreciate their culture, too.

This website will be filled with information about:
– How television can affect your children
– More about how Coco got it right
– How the number and representation of Latinos in Hollywood can be improved

[1] Header image, (lifehack.org; Web; 1)

[2] Holson, Laura M. “Latinos Are Underrepresented in Hollywood, Study Finds.” The New York Times, 26 Aug. 2019, p. 3.