'The South American Way': Hollywood Looks at Latins and at Latin America.

Latin elements or themes made for the North American market have been used in American films, but at the same time these films have been playing in a Latin American market, making it useful to examine how Latin America has been portrayed in these films. The taste for exotic locales and themes is an element that has been present since the beginnings of the American musical theater. Specific Latin influences came around the end of the nineteenth century with the advent of several historically important events that served to deepen the United States' ties to its southern neighbors: (1) the War with Mexico (1836) for the independence of Texas; (2) the Spanish-American War of 1898 when Americans fought in Cuba, receiving Puerto Rico as part of the peace treaty; and (3) the digging of the Panama Canal which the United States took over from France in 1907. A host of films have portrayed Latin Americans with familiar stereotypes, such as the hissing villain, the gigolo, the "Mexican Spitfire," and the "lazy, shiftless Latin." Although non-musicals were made, the primary genre of films dealing with Latin American was romantic musicals that used popular Latin music. (Seventeen notes are included.) (MS)