Colorism Biases in Mexican Telenovelas

Univision's portrayal of social class exploitation, racist ideologies, and colorism biases are repetitive for guaranteed TV ratings.[6] Let’s look at old-time Telenovelas such as MariMar, Soñadoras, and Luz Clarita – all consisted of light-skinned Latinos as leading characters. If we google top Telenovela stars it becomes evident that an overwhelming number of them resemble European actors/actresses. For example, Cristina Campuzano from Colombia’s Telenovela “La Niña” looks a lot like Sarah Paulson from “American Horror Story.” [7] These whitewashed media shows perpetuate the message that lighter features are superior, whereas, dark, Black, and indigenous features are inferior or nonexistent. White-passing Latinos exist, but so do other Latinos. The preferred and privileged representation of White Latinos in Telenovelas makes it seem like they are the only Latinos that exist, which erases Afro and indigenous Latinos as a whole. Even when they (Afro and indigenous Latinos) are represented on Telenovelas, they are cast for inferior roles of servants, gardeners, maids, thieves, etc. Thus, darker skin-toned people are continued to be portrayed as ‘bad’ or ‘less.’