Research Kit Usage Guide
Research Questions
How does a film’s casting, makeup, and wardrobe decisions create a false depiction of Latin American communities in the films Viva Zapata, West Side Story, and In the Heights? How can these decisions be improved?
Audience
The audience for this research kit are the makers of film, including directors and producers so that they may be educated on film as power and the important role that they have in depicting underrepresented peoples to a large mainstream audience. This is also for the public audience to realize how underrepresented peoples are often inaccurately represented in film. The kit also engages groups of people who often are misrepresented.
Overview
This research kit appeals to directors, those misrepresented, and the public audience. The kit will focus on the movies Viva Zapata, West Side Story (1961), and In the Heights. These films each represent ethnic races in Latin America. However, there is a lack of Hispanic and Latino representation in the film industry. In most films, there are rarely any Hispanic or Latin lead actors, which is why these films were essential to show the accurate representation of the Latinx community. This research kit will focus on the false depictions of these Latin American communities in the films Viva Zapata, West Side Story (1961), and In the Heights.
The movies Viva Zapata, West Side Story (1961), and In the Heights focuses on different parts of Latin America. The film Viva Zapata was directed by Elia Kazan and written by John Steinback, released at the height of the Cold War. The film is a biographical picture concerning his life and importance during the Mexican Revolution. The movie Viva Zapata was about a Mexican revolutionary, Emiliano Zapata, who led a rebellion against the corrupt dictator President Diaz. In this film, Emiliano Zapata was depicted as a Latin-American hero. Unfortunately, Viva Zapata has caused debates on the film’s accuracy as historians, film reviewers and audiences have had negative feedback due to the use of English rather than Spanish and the false representation through casting.
West Side Story (1961) was an original idea that represents a musical update of “Romeo and Juliet”. The film was directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins. When developing this film, they wanted to draw attention to the east side of Manhattan and show a conflict between rival Catholic and Jewish groups. However, once teenage Latin gang violence made it to the news in Los Angeles, they included Puerto Ricans as one of the groups and but eventually changed the story to discuss conflict between Puerto-Ricans and white gangs on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, making the focus of the film between the Jets and the Sharks fighting for the same territory. West Side Story focuses on the issues of race, social class, misogyny, and inequality.
In the Heights was directed by Jon M. Chu (who is the son of Chinese immigrants and he also directed Crazy Rich Asians) with a screenplay by Quiara Alegria Hudes, who wrote the book for the musical, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda while he was a college student. The movie is based on the musical by Miranda, but it was made after he found blockbuster success in his stage musical, Hamilton. The movie is set in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Washington Heights. Through the film, characters use music, dance, and express their emotions and feelings. This film highlights the themes of immigration, the struggle of being Latino, and the meaning of family in an urban neighborhood where immigrants from many nations live melting pot.
These films have generated discussion related to casting choices of non-white characters. Although these films are supposed to highlight different groups of minorities, these films have failed to give an accurate depiction of these minorities. In both films, light-skinned actors dominated cast members. When it comes to casting, makeup also an important role in the film. Makeup has been used to darken the actors, especially in the 1950s and 1960s.
In Viva Zapata, the main character Emiliano Zapata, played by Marlon Brando, was an American actor, just like many of his co-stars. Since Marlon Brando wasn’t Mexican, “they’ve taped his eyelids up in a bizarre attempt to make him look like an indigenous Mexican, but he just looks like Marlon Brando with his eyelids taped up” (Tunzelmann, Alex von). In some scenes, he even tried to convey a Mexican accent, but it was incredibly inaccurate. Unfortunately, like the inaccurate representation of casting, there was a lot wrong with Emiliano Zapata and the Mexican revolution in Viva Zapata.
In the film West Side Story, half of the characters were Puerto Rican, but Rita Moreno was one of the only Latino performers among the cast. Moreno expressed her concerns when the makeup artist used makeup to darken her skin, although she was Puerto Rican. When this happened, Moreno made a comment during an interview, when the makeup artist accused Anita Moreno of being racist. This was when Moreno came to the realization of how little people knew about Puerto Ricans. Not only did they use makeup to darken her skin, but also used makeup to create brownface on the white cast members too. Moreno even explained that racial slurs during her filming in Hollywood caused her to go to therapy. Besides, the makeup and cast members’ wardrobes also played a role. In the film, the sharks’ wardrobe was natty tailoring in warm tones of yellows and gold, with an occasional pop of a tropical print. The wardrobe designer, Tazwell, focused on being clear about the two communities and what their contrasts were, but his representation can lead to controversy. For example, women were supposed to be sexual objects, which is why the camera and wardrobe were essential as they represented that women should be “looked at”. The 2021 remake of West Side Story has focused on making improvements to provide an accurate representation of Puerto Ricans.
In the movie In the Heights I finally had a chance to portray the diversity of the Latinx community on screen, showing the hopes, family dynamics, friendships, and romances of an intergenerational group of Latinxs living in Washington Heights. Unfortunately, many real-life residents were disappointed with the film because they felt it wasn’t a true representation of Afro-Latinxs. In an interview, Jon M Chu was asked where the dark-skinned Afro-Latinx people were, and Chu explained how they were looking for the best people for the roles. However, people believed that was an excuse because everyone who is always best for the job always looks a certain way. Miranda, even apologized on Twitter after the negative feedback. Miranda stated, “I’m truly sorry. I’m learning from the feedback. I thank you for raising it and I’m listening”. (Haywood, Jasmine). In fact, in In the Heights, most cast members were white or light-skinned creating a lot of controversy among Latinxs in Washington Heights. For they believed it was an inaccurate representation of the Dominicans. Today, more light-skinned actors are more aware of this system of colorism. For example, Leslie Grace, who played Nina, believed she never should’ve played Nina, although she was black woman. Nina stated, “And when I recently spoke to Hunger Games actor Amandla Stenberg, who previously walked away from a role in Black Panther due to colorism concerns, she told me: “I see the ways in which the media has sold me, and other light-skinned actors in general, as monolithic representations of a Blackness. It is so damaging and gross… it’s just like sneaky racism.” (Frazzer-Carroll, Micha) This represents how actors have even come to the realization of the racism represented in the films through certain cast members. In the film, In the Heights, wardrobes were used to represent the Latinx communities of Washington Heights. They would use cold colors to celebrate the flag and even were recommended to shop local to get an idea of the fashion in Washington Heights.
In all of these films, colorism was represented. Hollywood has continued to limit Latin American films, but the importance of Latin American films is to share their stories as much as others. The lack of representation in all of these films has created a controversial issue in Hollywood productions. Each of these films is an example of Latin American communities and their false representation. It shows how misrepresented and little people know about these communities because of the lack of knowledge and films about them. Unfortunately, these films have not made a huge impact, and actually had a lot of negative feedback due to their lack of knowledge and resilience to understand these communities.
Annotated Bibliography
Garcia, Maira, et al. “’In the Heights’ and Colorism: What Is Lost When Afro-Latinos Are Erased.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 June 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/21/movies/in-the-heights-colorism.html
This article is a secondary article, which represents the lack of race in the film “In the Heights”.The title of this article by the New York Times is “In the Heights and Colorism: What is Lost when Afro-Latinos are Erased”. The article examines how In the Heights was a step to represent more Latinos in Hollywood, but how some criticism has changed the views of the way Latinos were portrayed. It focuses on certain people’s perspectives of the way race was represented in the film In the Heights, such as how they were using light-skinned or white-passing Latinx people. It evaluates critics and reporters at The Times’ opinions on how they think race was represented in the film and how they failed to have Afro-Latino actors as the leads. Not only does it focus on the importance of actor roles, but also on what colorism means to people in the Latino community.
Zoe. “Viva Zapata! (1952).” Viva Zapata! (1952) Directed by Elia Kazan • Reviews, Film + Cast • Letterboxd, https://letterboxd.com/film/viva-zapata/
This link is a primary source as it focuses on specific reviews of those who’ve watched Viva Zapata. In some of the reviews, some people focus on the misrepresentation of the actors. Some explain how the casting was incorrect and could’ve been portrayed better. Others even talk about how the film fails to represent the Mexican population and takes away all its magic of it.
Woller, Megan Bolander. A PLACE FOR WEST SIDE STORY (1961): GENDER, RACE, AND TRAGEDY IN HOLLYWOOD‟S ADAPTATION. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.185.4649&rep=rep1&type=pdf
This article is a secondary source. It is written by Megan Bolander Woller. The title of this paper is “A Place for West Side Story (1961): Gender, Race, and Tragedy in Hollywood’s Adaptation. In this paper, Woller explains the adaptation process from Broadway to Hollywood, which focuses on the musical aspect and the competitive dances. Later, Woller talks about the feminine space and performance of ethnicity. She explains the importance of the camera, the audience, and the characters. In this paper, she shows how women were more sexual objects, and how the camera displays how women should be “looked at”. She explains how women were represented in the film through the two lead female characters. It also explains how members of different ethnic backgrounds rarely interacted in certain scenes such as Anita v Maria in the the Bridal shop.
Boffone, Trevor. “Whitewashed Usnavi: Race, Power and Representation in in the Heights.” Latest TOC RSS, Intellect, 1 Dec. 2019, https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/smt/2019/00000013/00000003/art00003
The article Whitewashed Usnavi: Race, power, and representation in In the Heights is a secondary source written by Trevor Befone. This article examines the whitewashing represented in many films, but one specifically important one was In the Heights. In the Heights was set to reach the Latino community, but instead created controversy. Unfortunately, the main problem was the casting decisions for those actors of color. This article, it talks about how more casting roles go to white actors. Beffone also talks about West Side Story and how it became the first commercial show to prominently feature Latinx actors and characters, but the Broadway stage has remained mainly white. The author even describes certain terms used in the film to represent the Latin community.
Tunzelmann, Alex Von. “Big Hat, No Cred: Viva Zapata! Is a Tale of Mexican Freedom Fighters That Takes Liberties with History.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 17 Sept. 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/sep/16/marlon-brando-reel-history.
This article was a secondary source that focused on the importance of the casting, political aspect, and romance. In the article, it talks about Marlon Brando the man who plays Zapata. During the film, they taped up his eyelids to look more like an indigenous Mexican, which is very disrespectful. Not only that, but during the film, they try to attempt Mexican accents to try and bring in the diversity and importance of the scene, but this also has created controversy. Through certain scenes, such as the assassination, they believe that Madero was portrayed as naive, which also represents an importance in casting. The romance also was important as they believe it portrayed a strong Latin passion.
“In the Heights (2021) – No Me Diga.” YouTube, YouTube, 6 July 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrFH772ytzM.
In the Heights is a PG-13. This scene represents the salon scene, which has been seen as a controversial issue, due to the representation of the cast. For example, this scene represents light-skinned people, which is a false depiction of Washington Heights, as it is mainly Dominican. Although this scene struggled with colorism in casting, the scene represents how your community can become of your family and they are deeply invested in not only seeing you succeed but see you thriving as a person
Haywood, Jasmine. “In the Heights Exemplified the Ugly Colorism I’ve Experienced in Latinx Communities.” Vox, Vox, 18 June 2021, https://www.vox.com/first-person/2021/6/18/22537351/in-the-heights-lin-manuel-miranda-colorism.
This article is a secondary source. The article talks about the backlash that the film got after it was set out. It explains how people believed that the casting was inaccurate as represented in the film. It shows how in an interview, Miranda apologized, but appreciate the feedback and that she is learning from the feedback and appreciates their feedback as it bought awareness. In the Heights, this article represents how the casting of light-skinned people and white-passing Latinx was not an accurate representation of Washington Heights, which is fully Dominican. This article is important because it shows how the director Jo Chu has been called out before for upholding colorism. Reviews from the film were critical as many people believed it failed the represent the racial diversity of the Latinx community but instead fell into the traps of colorism.
MyTube2362. “‘Don’t You Forget It!”.” YouTube, YouTube, 21 Jan. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQeAI6hndTs
This a scene from Viva Zapata. It represents a part of the film that shows a close-up of Emiliano Zapata’s face. It could be hard to tell, but in this scene, he has tape on his eyelids to give him a more distinct look of the role. This scene shows when there is a complaint against Zapata’s brother.
Lee, Ashley. “’West Side Story’ Can Never Be Authentic, Spielberg or Not.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 12 Dec. 2021, https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-12-12/west-side-story-puerto-rico-cultural-authenticity.
This article is a secondary source. It explains the movie: West Side Story (1961) and the new West Side Story (2021). In this article, Ashley Lee explains the problems in the first West Side Story with casting and the changes Spielberg did in the 2021 West Side Story to make it a true Latinx production. In the first movie, Rita Moreno, who is a Puerto Rican, explained how she and other cast members, were darkened with makeup. When Moreno made a comment, the makeup artist believed Rita Moreno was racist. However, this made Rita Moreno realize how little people know about Puerto Ricans. In West Side Story (2021), they don’t use any brownface and the casting consists of twenty Puerto Ricans or Puerto Rican descent. Ashley Lee explains how the idea came about to make the West Side Story and how the first development of the West Side Story (1961) has shaped the way people view Puerto Ricans.
Frazzer-Carroll, Micha. “In the Heights’ Lack of Dark-Skinned Black People Looks a Lot like Colourism.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 19 June 2021, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/in-the-heights-colourism-latinx-representation-b1868384.html.
This is a secondary source that explains In the Heights and colorism. It talks about actors who have taken roles and regret it due to racial problems. Some characters even discuss that they would rather not play the character because it is a false representation.
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