Why is having good Hispanic representation in mainstream media so important? It is very important to show to other people outside the community that do not understand Hispanic culture and ways, and they need to be displayed accurately and not in a harmful light. 

A very positive representation of the Hispanic community is Wakanda Forever, the second of the  Black Panther movies. The movie included characters with Latino roots and since in the media they are mostly only portrayed using lighter skinned actors they casted Tenoch Huerta, who is of a darker complexion. The film took the time to research the history of South America that was being put into the movie and other aspects like the history of the Aztecs and how the Spanish colonized South America.

A very bad one is in Modern Family which only has a handful of characters in the show that are people of color and the two main characters are from Colombia. In the show they are a mother (Gloria) and a son (Manny), and the mother is very attractive and marries a much older man (Jay) that takes her son in as his own. Throughout the show she is made fun of for her accent and is made out to be a crazy Latina. They use a lot of stereotypes such as that she was a gold digger and had beef with Jay’s ex-wife. Having Hispanics go through that kind of treatment makes them seem easily able to be walked over. The characters are strong willed but after a characters says something  rude or slick they brush off the fact that the comment was lowkey racist.

More media should be like Wakanda Forever, with diverse, headstrong Hispanic characters.