Seeing Beyond The Stereotypes: Telling Authentic Latino/a/x/e Stories
National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) announced ‘Seeing Beyond The Stereotypes: Telling Authentic Latino/a/x/e Stories,” a new media guide and resource providing comprehensive education about Latine Communities tailored for entertainment industry professionals.
Seeing Beyond The Stereotypes will drive media portrayals of the Latine community away from the current narrative and toward the authenticity and depth Latine stories deserve. The media guide analyzes the state of the Hollywood industry as it relates to the Latine community, debunks myths and stereotypes, defines popular terms, and features data on Latine culture and the power of our audience for the entertainment industry.
Facing a consistent lack of support for Latine projects across the country, as well as a transformational election year in November, NHMC collaborated with Latine creators, academics, and industry experts to publish this new guide, showing how portrayals of Latine communities on screen impact our lived experience and influences the exact policies that shape our lives.
“The National Hispanic Media Coalition’s ‘Seeing Beyond the Stereotypes: Telling Latino/a/x/e Stories’ is a timely and much-needed call for the media industry to confront its role in shaping how audiences come to understand who Latinos are,” said Congressman Joaquin Castro. “Prejudice has always existed in the United States, but the images of our community created by film and television has done little to counter bigoted views and too often has amplified them. As we push Hollywood to tell inclusive and accurate stories about our community, the release of today’s guide should be an important reminder to Hollywood about the power of Latino consumers, the strength of our stories, and the brilliance of Latino creatives” continued Congressman Castro.
Moving forward, NHMC plans to hold 1-1 sessions with studios and executives throughout the country, to collaborate and answer questions, while encouraging them to adopt the tenets of the media guide throughout their content. The custom designed sessions with top-level executives will be facilitated by President and CEO Brenda Victoria Castillo, creating a safe place for industry-leaders to have honest and authentic discussions covering their questions about the Latine community, private and off the record.
As a woman-led non-profit civil and human rights organization, NHMC is proud to provide this resource to industry professionals to expand their understanding of the complexities of the Latine experience. NHMC sees this guide as a constantly evolving document to meet the needs of the industry and talent. Seeing Beyond the Stereotypes will allow entertainment professionals to understand better and connect with the community they are making media for and about, providing an opportunity to tap into the wealth of Latine talent and creatives.
“We are proud to provide our media guide as a resource and starting point for a conversation on Latine representation, not the ending point, as we have a lot of work to do ahead and we can’t do it alone.” said Brenda Victoria Castillo, President and CEO, National Hispanic Media Coalition. “While we hope this guide informs decision-makers on how to shut down harmful narratives, we also recognize our mission as an organization committed to building bridges with the industry. We want studios and executives to meet with us, work with us, and have the space to ask the tough questions to truly affect change.”
Latine are the largest and second-fastest-growing minority population in the U.S and are avid media consumers, purchasing more movie tickets and subscribing to more online streaming services and video-on-demand than any other group. NHMC’s mission to eliminate hate, discrimination, and racism toward Latine communities propel this media guide and calls on the industry to collaborate, ask questions, and get involved. The accurate portrayal of the Latine communities and proper representation in front of and behind the camera is long overdue.
A link to the media guide is available here.
About The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC)
NHMC is a nearly forty-year-old, woman-led non-profit civil and human rights organization that was founded to eliminate hate, discrimination, and racism toward Latino communities.
We educate and increase Latino visibility, from our policy work in Washington, D.C., to our media advocacy work in Hollywood, where we collaborate, create, and connect Latino talent with the entertainment industry. At NHMC, we focus on all forms of media because it is one of the most influential and powerful institutions that shape society’s attitudes, values, and beliefs.
We have a number of initiatives dedicated to building bridges within our community, including our Series Scriptwriters Program, which has helped launch the careers of more than 200 Latinx writers. For over ten years, our Latinx Stream Showcase has also helped launch 300+ Latinx creators’ careers in front and behind the camera. The program showcases 4-5 short films written by, starred in, and directed by Latinos.
We lead the work to eliminate online hate and disinformation across media platforms. We advocate for the Affordable Connectivity Program, Lifeline Program, Net Neutrality protections, and closing the digital divide for Latino and other marginalized communities. NHMC works in partnership with other social justice organizations to safeguard democracy in the United States of America.
