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Dean Marriott CB

The Impact of Narcotraficante Films and TV on the Perception of Latinxs in the US

For my contested border project, I decided to examine how the narcotraficante genre influences public perception of latinx people and culture. While these tv shows and films are very popular and entertaining, the producers of these works profit off of the misrepresentations of latinx people. This genre actually perpetuates the racial stereotypes of latinx people that are omnipresent in American society. Furthermore, shows like Narcos glorify the horrors that drug cartels inflict on their victims. While these shows and films are entertaining, is it worth the cost? Is it worth misrepresenting latinx people and placing the drug cartels on a pedestal in order to make money? Of course not, but upon taking this class and learning about how Hollywood functions with regards to latinx people, I've realized that they do not care at all about the representations themselves, only about the money and viewers that the shows attract. 

The popular tv series Narcos is the quintessential example of the misrepresentation of latinx people and the glorification of drug cartels on the big screen. The show examines the life of Pablo Escobar and how he became the world's most powerful drug lord and narcoterrorist, often referred to as the King of Cocaine. Escobar was responsible for countless acts of terror across Colombia, including the bombing of the Colombian congress building, and is responsible for killing thousands of people over the course of his life. However, even though Escobar was a monster, Narcos portrayed him as a family man and highlighted his Robin Hood character in the eyes of the people of Medellín. This glorification of a man who terrorized Colombia for years not only is a grave injustice to the victims of his crimes, but it also highlights the problems of Hollywood's representations of drug cartels. Even though this is a gross misrepresentation of Escobar and narcos in general, the tv series was, and still is, the most popular show on Netflix, and it is partly responsible for the amazing success Netflix has enjoyed over the past three years.

In order to get a sense of the influence that these productions have on latinx people, I asked a few of my friends what they thought of Narcos (most of my friends have seen the entire series) and the light in which it showed latinx people. All came back with the same response: it perpetuates negative stereotypes surrounding latinx people and tarnishes latinx culture. With regards to the glorification of Pablo Escobar, the majority of my friends did not pick up on the problems with this representation. It's interesting that by the end, the viewer almost feels bad for Escobar and his family, and my friends felt similarly. This feeling of sadness highlights the grave mistake of the producers of the series.

While these narcotraficante productions may be good for business, they are very harmful to US society. The mainstream appeal of these films and shows perpetuate the negative stereotypes of latinx people in the US, especially undocumented immigrants. After President Trump asserted at a campaign rally that Mexico is "sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists..." it really highlighted to me the effect of these films on the populace, as that cannot be further from the truth. I'm sure Trump has seen many narcotraficante films or tv series (like el Chapo). Trump is just embracing the stereotypes and adopting them as fact, which is what a significant portion of American society does, when it's the opposite. Ultimately, I hope that Hollywood puts the greater good of the American public and latinx people above the earnings potential of these productions, but I don't see that happening any time soon.