What It Means to be a Man?: Violence and Homophobia in Latino Masculinities On and Off Screen

Abstract

R ESEARCH ON LATINO MASCULINITIES IS SCANT AND ONLY RARELY results in full-length monographs (Cant u; Mirand e). Recent scholarship underscores multiple ways of being a man in Latin America and among Latinos in the United States. It emphasizes variation in Latino masculinities across regions, ethnic groups, social classes, and time periods (Gonzalez-Lopez; Gutmann; and Mirand e).On screen, however, not only are Latinos underrepresented, but the dominant masculinity associated with Latinos continues to be fairly one-sided and stereotypical: the oversexualized Latin Lover, the lazy crook, and the violent macho. Of particular concern for the purposes of this article is the aggressive, homophobic macho that represents Latinos on screen. Recent work by Latino filmmakers and actors has begun to portray more realistic, multidimensional men, yet the stereotypical fundamentally violent macho persists and dominates portrayals of Latinos.This article draws on recent scholarship on Latino masculinities and violence and on the recent film La Mission (directed by Peter Bratt), a film that seeks to provide a counterstory to stereotypical on-screen depictions of Latinos in the United States, to examine the construction of hegemonic Latino masculinity and violence in the representation of Latino masculinity. I begin by providing background information on Latinos in the United States (and more specifically in California, where the film is set), Latino masculinities, and the history of on-screen Latino representation. I then move on to

Queer Whiteness, the Chicana/o/x Family, and El Malinche in Quinceañera

“…Elsewhere, I have shown how the documentary Homeboy suggests that gay gang members disidentify with homophobic gangs to attain community and resistance in and through gang life (Entre Maricones y Locos). Rodríguez and I have each examined the racialized dichotomization of queer space in La Mission , and M. Cristina Alcalde has also studied this film, arguing that La Mission presents viewers with a “more multifaceted and realistic” version of Latino masculinity “than images found in mainstream media” (538). Aurelio Espinosa and Tim McNelis have each analyzed Quinceañera , with Espinosa tracing Mariology in the movie and McNelis considering how the film's score impacts characters’ “construction of identity and agency” (144).…”