Stereotypes of Hispanic and Latino Americans - Latin American Representation in U.S. Fiction

Latin American Representation in U.S. Fiction

Depictions of Latin America in the US fiction sometimes include misconceptions or mistakes which may be perceived as stereotypes. Apart from people, geography can be mistaken; for example, Iguazu Falls and the Amazon Rainforest may be treated as if they were close to each other. Cities may be depicted with features which they do not have, or are in other countries. Cities may be depicted as shanty towns, with monkeys, big cats and alligators roaming free. When characters visit Brazil, it is usually during the Brazilian Carnival.

As for the Latin American people, they may be depicted as being poor, and women as wearing Carmen Miranda-style fruit hats. They are also depicted as working in low-income labor jobs and most prominently for males the job is as a gardener and most prominently for women the job is as a maid. Fashion, technology and architecture is depicted between a colonial and a 1950s style.

The same stereotypes prevail in U.S. Hispanic media, where most Latino Americans are often depicted as poor and those who are often depicted as poor are usually of either mixed race, black Hispanic, or indigenous Hispanic heritage. These perceptions of poverty among U.S. Hispanic media and even among the greater Hispanic American communities themselves are so great that Hispanic and Latino American groups that are usually not impoverished and lack widespread crime in their communities are portrayed as such by U.S. Hispanic media and even Latin American countries that don't possess the high crime rates or the poverty rates of countries such as Honduras, Dominican Republic, Colombia etc. are portrayed as such by the U.S. Hispanic media. Examples of countries with low crime and poverty rates in Latin America are Panama, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Costa Rica.