The Beginnings

To understand stereotypes in film, it is necessary to start at the beginning. For stereotyping of Latinos, the beginning was the appearances in silent western films in the early 1900s.

The term 'greaser' is a derogatory term used to describe Mexican Americans and although it is not one heard very often in 2007, it was openly used in the early 1900s and used in various movie titles. For example, Greaser's Revenge in 1914 and Tony the Greaser in 1911.

Mexican Americans were referred to as greasers in the early 1900s in film and often times everyday life because of the grease that would get into their hair and on their bodies while working with animal hides.

The typical 'greaser' image used throughout the 1900s is shown below:



The role of a greaser in Hollywood was rarely, if ever, a positive one. They played the first role of the bad guy: dishonest and conniving in every possible way. This portrayal appeared typically in the western genre.

The 'greaser' character continues to be reinvented and appears in films today. While the modern day greaser might have migrated from the wild west or frontier into the city, the character is undoubtedly morally deficient in comparison to the portrayal of their white counterparts. Many times in today's films the greaser is involved with gangs or other illegal activity.

However, in the blatent prejudice in the film industry did not occur without any protest. Due to many complaints and boycotts by the Mexican Government in the 1920s, film producers began to stray away from the specifying the heritage of their Latino characters. This, in turn, led to pan-Latino (a 'you're all the same' state of mind) portrayals that were still offensive to much of the Latino population.