U.S. Latino Visual Culture

In this course we will study the development of U.S. Latino visual culture in the 20th century and how this ethnicity is constructed and visualized in relation to the mainstream Anglophone culture of the United States. Topics will include the early and problematic blackface representations in Hollywood (Touch of Evil and West Side Story), the emergence of narratives that problematize border concepts (El Norte), Ghetto narratives (Stand and Deliver), Hispanic graffiti art and graphic novels, superstars in the media, and the emergence of important U.S. Latino characters in contemporary television (Lost, Six Feet Under). The class will use texts and films written in English.