ns were pervasive in the newsreels of the 1920s and 1930s that led to these later representations. As newsreels were often shown to U.S. audiences along with films, these newsreels had a powerful potential to influence perception of Hispanics. Along with the bandito, and comic Mexican, these news reels also feature representation of Hispanics as Latin Lovers. As Johnson (1999, p. 417) explains, ôThese early films years were the first step in the stereotyping of Latinas as blithesome creatures preoccupied with the entertainment of handsome men, along with cementing the comic and bandit male roles. By the 1930s, two new versions of male stereotypes had evolved, the caballero and the gangster. The Latin Lover tended to be lighter-skinned and aristocratic; gangsters had darker skin.ö
For Asians, media representation has also been stereotypical and negative in the U.S. for most of American history. Hemant Shah (2003, p. N1) maintains that most American films offered one of four stereotypical representations of Asians to American audiences; the ôYellow Peril,ö the ôDragon Lady,ö ôCharlie Chan,ö and ôLotus Blossom.ö Shah (2003) maintains thesd images served to reinforce the superior nature of the dominant American culture at the expense of the immigrant, foreign, or culture of the ôother.ö As Shah (2003, p. N1) asserts, ôThese images can be understood as controlling images in the sense that negative stereotypes provide justifications for social control and positive stereotypes provide normative models for Asian thought and behavior.ö In this sense, the dominant culture reinforces its own identityÆs worth at the expense of another cultureÆs identity and representation.
Beginning with the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, increasing numbers of immigrants to the U.S. began to demand equality and accurate representation in the U.S. media. In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, increased globalization, the spread of dem...