Hispanics in the Movie Industry

Over the years, in the movie industry directors seem to put Hispanics as the main focus when it comes to gangsters. There are many movies that involve different ethnicities when it comes to gangsters in movie scenes but Hispanics are the main focus. Movie directors use low riders, white muscle shirts, and loose pants to portray the typical Mexican gangster tradition. Every gangster in this movie clip has tattoos and shaved scalps. Some have normal sized hair but still have that loose attire.

The video clips are movies of where Hispanics are being portrayed as the “tough” gangsters.  Such as, Training Day (2001), Blood in Blood out (1993), and Napoleon Dynamite (2004) are movies in the industry that influence this type of stereotypical idea. Training day is about a white male that is trained by Denzel Washington. Washington is a corrupt Nark who dislikes his partner because he’s a corrupt cop. He wants to keep the violence out of South Central LA while Washington doesn’t. He then leaves him in a house full of gangsters who are Hispanics so that they can kill him. The movie not only involves a dominate ethnicity but also includes others such as African Americans. Though, the main focus is when he is left alone with Mexican gangsters

Blood in Blood out is about Hispanic young adults who live in East L.A. and are influenced into gangs. The main character in this movie is a young man whom is called “Miclo.” His cousins are in a small gang that soon becomes enormous. Miclo goes to prison for killing a member of a rival gang. His Gang grows when he goes to prison. He receives power when he’s in prison because he becomes one of the leaders of his gang. His closest cousin then becomes a cop and tries to prevent him from expanding the gang and committing more crimes but fails.

Napoleon dynamite is also a movie in which the directors portray Hispanic gangsters as being “tough.” This movie is about a high school student who is considered a “loser.” Napoleons best friend Pedro runs for student council president. Pedro has cousins who are gangsters and are considered to be “cool” because they are threatening to other students and have "sweet hookups." It is clearly shown that Mexican families are overseen as having gangsters as family members. The city and school is predominantly white and Pedro is the Mexican in the school with that “type” of family.