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The Hispanic Image in Hollywood: A Postcolonial Approach offers an in-depth analysis of how Hispanics are represented in American cinema. Film production is a reflection of American historical processes that have defined Hispanics and American mainstream identity as oppositional forces in the domestic political establishment. Hispanic difference, as depicted in film, is understood as the by-product of Western philosophy, Western science, territorial expansion, colonialism and American nation building, wherein Hispanics have been identified as the antithetical, ubiquitous Other. More precisely, specific Hollywood films not only mirror American history but also a variety of political discourses that have defined Hispanic identity. Thematic categories of American history used to construct Hispanics reflect, in many ways, a deep-rooted, Eurocentric, colonial worldview. As the research of this book clearly shows, film depictions of Hispanics have created negative visual taxonomies based on gender, race, and class. «Jorge J. Barrueto has detailed and analyzed a diverse number of classical and contemporary films which clearly delineate the stereotypical and biased manner in which Hispanics are portrayed in North American cinema. Utilizing empirical data from canonical pre- and post-colonial texts, Barrueto skillfully deconstructs a number of Hispanic films to show, ontologically and historically, the North American’s negative attitude toward Hispanic and Latino culture, especially of those Hispanics living in the United States. This book is highly recommended for graduate and undergraduate students of Latin American culture and civilization as it also contains a thorough and well-written introduction and a very detailed bibliography with relevant, appropriate, and informative footnotes.» (Víctor Manuel Durán, Professor of Spanish and Chair of the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, University of South Carolina) «Jorge J. Barrueto has certainly done extensive research on the subject. I applaud his choice of films for the book and regard this publication as important to the field of film studies. The theoretical approach he has taken is a solid one, and the project is in step with the current direction of Latino/a media scholarship.» (Christine List, Professor and Program Coordinator, Communications, Media Arts, and Theatre, Chicago State University)...
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