Conclusion

Film creators play a powerful role because they can either produce films that replicate harmful stereotypes or make films that highlight groups and individuals in more positive ways—ways that demonstrate their identities and experiences as realistically as possible. While doing that, the creators can represent the characters well and honestly so that they reflect real life groups of people accurately and possibly change audience’s misconceptions. Even though films reflect society, it cannot replicate society because the creators are only human. Nonetheless, films still have an impact on audiences because the rhetoric can shape audience’s perspectives of groups and individuals. It is necessary to think that the portrayal of a group or person in a film might one of the only narratives that an audience knows about.

By using critical race theory, this project examines how films, such as Fresas y Chocolate and Cuatro Lunas, serve as powerful rhetorical artifacts because they have significant power to impact society’s perceptions and understandings of groups like LGBTQ Latinos. Depicting realistic characters and relationships allows for the opportunity to emphasize how one’s identity is made up multiple aspects that operate simultaneously. This rhetorical move is incredibly powerful because it illustrates how the treatment of individuals and individuals’ perspectives are influenced by their intersectional identities. The critical race theory allows rhetoricians to examine how individuals behave according to their complex identity as well as how they are  (whether it is positively or negatively). “Race-gender combination” causes people to treat and interact with others based on preconceived notions (McCabe 139); if race-gender combination is depicted in films, then it can portray someone’s identity can either help end these attitudes or reinforce negative attitudes.

In conclusion, this project demonstrates how the perceived identity of these characters is shaped by the countless aspects of their identity and how experiences influence their lives or relationships. This project emphasizes how the marginalization of LGBTQ Latinos is not only constructed by outsiders but also by various members within the community. All in all, the research collected in this project reveals how films, like all media, either reinforce the cultural norms of the society that it presents or defies the expectations by portraying characters that are not silenced by their oppression.