Hispanic Heritage Month provides Americans an opportunity to recognize and celebrate Hispanic culture and everything that Hispanic Americans have done for this country.

The word “Hispanic” is used to describe people from Spanish-speaking countries, and many of these people are also Latino and Latin American. Though 18.5% of the U.S. population is made up of Hispanic and Latin American people, U.S. media doesn’t always sufficiently or correctly represent these people. In fact, Latinx representation in TV and films has only recently started to become more prevalent on popular streaming sites like Netflix. 

Only within the last few years has Netflix begun to stream some popular Hispanic cultural TV shows like “Jane the Virgin,” which was only added to the website in 2019, even though the show officially aired five years prior. 

In 2013, Netflix aired one of its first originals, “Orange Is the New Black.” The crime-drama show has a heavily populated Hispanic cast, though the Spanish-speaking characters are all incarcerated or labeled as criminals. This show does, however, tackle some difficult challenges that Hispanics have faced, such as immigration issues. The series also highlights the sacred traditions and the power of families and close relationships within Latinx communities. 

University of Illinois Professor Carolyn Fornoff is researching 20th and 21st century Latin American literature and film, in addition to teaching several University courses, such as SPAN 326: Mexican Cinema. Growing up near a large Mexican-American culture in Texas, Fornoff became quickly interested in researching Mexican cinema.

“It is hugely important to celebrate Latinx culture, not only for its amazing cultural contributions like food and music but also to recognize the discrimination that many Hispanic people face in the United States,” Fornoff said. “For example, Latina women are paid 30% less than white women in the United States. That isn’t fair.”

Fornoff explained that, in terms of Latinx representation in media and film, there is still a long way to go.

“Latinx representation is plagued by colorism,” Fornoff said. “As the recent controversy over the casting of ‘In the Heights,’ there is still a long way to go with Afro-Latinx representation, I would love to see Jharrel Jerome, Y’lan Noel, MJ Rodriguez and Indya Moore get cast in more roles.”

Fornoff said that even though 18% of the population in the U.S. identifies as Latinx, only 4.5% of Netflix protagonists were Latinx. She encourages viewers to check out Pantaya as a streaming site for more Spanish-speaking films directed towards Mexican-American audiences. 

“My favorite actor right now is Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta (who starred in ‘Narcos: Mexico’ and ‘Sons of Monarchs’)… He is very active on Twitter and has spoken against racism in the Mexican film industry, which continues to mostly cast light-skinned actors,” Fornoff said about some of her favorite actors who stare in Spanish-inspired films and TV shows. 

The series “Narcos: Mexico” features a Spanish-speaking cast who speak more Spanish than English throughout the duration of the Netflix original series.

“Series like ‘Narcos: Mexico’ reinforce certain stereotypes about Mexico as an inherently violent country,” Fornoff said.

While Netflix is making strides in streaming more and more Latinx TV shows, there are still ways to go to capture more accurate representation. 

Netflix originals like “On My Block” and “One Day at a Time” highlight some of the struggles that Latinx face while in America. With the fourth and final season soon to be released, “On My Block” is about a group of Afro-Latinx and Latinx friends navigating their early teen years while battling gangs, fighting crime and exploring their crushes. While “On My Block” successfully features a diverse cast with deep character development, the series highlights the intensity of the Latinx gangs more than it highlights the beauty of Latinx culture. This, unfortunately, can fail to overcome the existing racist stereotypes. 

Starring Justina Machado, “One Day at a Time” is based on the 1975 series with the same title, though the modern version features a Latinx family. Machado plays a newly single mother navigating raising her children and living with her own mother while being a Cuban-American woman. “One Day at a Time” built a quick fan base, though the three-season series was canceled in 2019. 

Though Netflix has taken strides to be more inclusive in the future. Hopefully, Netflix continues to create more and more Spanish-inspired content that overcomes the current stereotypes and highlights the challenges experienced by and the traditions kept by the Hispanic community.

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