The Representation of Minorities in American Cinema As the semester progressed and I continued to learn how Latinos were misrepresented in American cinema throughout the twentieth century, I began to question my heritage cultural and how Jews were represented in films of the same era. I grew up learning about the various stereotypes that have been associated with Jews throughout history, but I never explored representations of Jews throughout the history of cinema in the United States. My curiosity led me to research the Hollywood image of the Jew, providing me with a better understanding of the role Jews and Jewish family life have played in American cinema since the dawn of cinematic history. I was able to relate the facts about the representation of Jews in the media to what we have studied this semester about the representation of Latinos and Latinos. Although in class we have focused on the representations of different Latin American cultures in American films, we must realize that other minorities, social classes, and ethnic groups were also mistreated by cinema. As Keller states, “One of the side effects of American cinema was often extraordinarily brutal depictions of other races and cultures, depictions that spread to wider audiences than ever before across the nation and even around the world” (Keller, 5) . Overall, the American film industry found it necessary to portray all but the dominant Anglo characters in a negative light. “In short,” explains Keller, “white Americans believed in the superiority of the white race and represented this superiority on the silver screen. Every other race was evaluated in relation to the achievements of the white race and in comparison to its approximation to the white race. ...... middle of paper ......//www.grapevinevideo.com/fairbanks.htmThe Mark of Zorro Produced by United Artists and Douglas Fairbanks Productions directed by Fred Niblo, 1920.Cortes, Carlos E. " Chicanas in Film: Story of an Image". Rodriguez, Clara E. Latin Looks, CO: Westview Press, 1998. Pp.121-139Flying Down to Rio Directed by Herbert Brenon, 1932.All films, Dolores Del Rio.http ://www.allmovie.com/cg/x.exe?p=avg&sql=bp18330Mexican Spitfire Directed by Leslie Goodwins Produced by Cliff Reid, 1939.Erens, Patricia. The Jew in American Cinema. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1984 .Friedman, Lester D. Hollywood's Image of the Jew in New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1982.Hangin' With the Homeboys. Directed by Joseph Vasquez, 1991.West Side Story. Directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise, 1961.