Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Light-skinned actors. Why?

As I am watching my Mexican telenovela, I noticed that the most if not all of the cast is light-skinned. I am pondering over why this is so? I researched the cast of other telenovelas and found the same pattern. For example, the cast of Sin Tetas No Hay Paraiso, Juana la Virgen, and La Vida Entera all have light-skinned actors and actresses. Isn’t this not an accurate representation of the population in Latin America? In Mexico especially, much of the population is comprised of mestizo people, and these people tend to be dark-skinned. I guess the media industry gives the people what they want to see, so these light-skinned actors must be chosen for a reason. Perhaps this topic will be covered in class as we continue to talk about representation and identity..or perhaps you guys have thoughts/opinions?

1 comment:

  1. I think that this is a really interesting, and sad, point as well. Our tv and film in the US is also like this, made up of all white casts. I think that this representation comes from and also perpetuates a beauty myth that values white or light skinned characters. For example, Disney is just now coming out with it’s first African-American princess. Millions of little girls look up to Disney princesses and also learn what is beautiful through these characters. It is sad that only now is there a princess that is black. I think that having a black princess is very important but I still think she is damaging because she has the same unrealistic body proportions as the rest of the Disney princess cast. These same issues are present in telenovelas because people learn what beauty is through watching telenovelas and the casts are too often all white and have body types that don’t represent realistic sizes for women.

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