The representation of Hispanic masculinity in US cinema 1998-2008: genre, stardom and machismo

Abstract

This thesis examines how the conventions of four distinct genres, the star personas of two key Hispanic male stars and conceptions of Hispanic men as 'macho' intersected in constructing images of Hispanic masculinity in Hollywood between the years 1998 and 2008. The work makes an original contribution to knowledge as the first extensive study of Hispanic masculinity in contemporary Hollywood and affording new insights into the way in which genre conventions and star personas contributed to these representations. The structure is based around four genre based case studies. The first analyses how Hispanic masculinity has been represented in action adventure films, with a specific focus on Antonio Banderas' performances in The Mask of Zorro (1998) and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003). The second case study chapter examines representations of Hispanic masculinity in the contemporary family film, its two case studies being the male members of the Cortez family of spies in Spy Kids (2001) and the animated Puss in Boots in Shrek 2 (2004). The third focuses on the cross genre form of the border film discussing images of Mexican masculinity in the drug trafficking drama Traffic (2000),with a specific focus on the performance of Benicio Del Toro, and border Western The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005). The fourth and final case study chapter centres around the representation of Hispanic masculinity in contemporary Biopics, analysing the performances of Banderas in And Staring Pancho Villa as Himself (2003) and Del Toro in Stephen Soderbergh's Che (2008). This research demonstrates that, in a decade where Hispanics became the US' largest ethnic minority, Hispanic males were cast in increasingly central and heroic roles across a range of genres but were still subject to long standing stereotypes than represent Hispanic men as excessively macho.

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ORCID for Michael Williams: orcid.org/0000-0001-5386-5567

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