photo courtesy of http://epguides.com/GeorgeLopez/
By Brandon Vogrin and Megan Smith
Positive Aspects
The television show, George Lopez, is a series in which Latinos make up the entire cast of the family. It takes place in the present day Los Angeles and focuses on a family and their daily lifestyle. This is one of two television shows that are directed to the English speaking population that has the Latino minority as the main ethnicity of the cast.
Only 4% of Hispanics make up the cast of prime-time television shows, a miniscule amount considering that Hispanic-Americans are the largest minority group in the US. The ways in which minorities are portrayed in the show have their good aspects as well as bad aspects. This is to be expected since showing all good points or all the bad points isn't a fair perspective of the Latino population. As a show that points out a minority, its necessary to look as the good as well as the bad to find if it is actually a optimistic view of the race or a pessimistic one.
The positives shown in The George Lopez Show are demonstrated by the members of the family in many different ways. The main character George, was promoted to plant manager of an L.A. airplane parts factory in the beginning of the series. He also receives an award for excellence in business management later on in the series. These represent the success of a Latino man. In one episode, when George finds out that one of his son's friends is having a rough home life, he makes arrangement for someone to take him in and take care of him until his home is safe enough for him to reside in. This show's how human and how caring he towards others as well as his family. When his son, Max, needs help with his baseball skills in another episode, George shows that he is a devoted father and works tirelessly on improving his son's skills. George's wife Angie, is currently a cosmetics salesperson but has aspirations to pursue a new, more stimulating career. She also shows her human side when she volunteers for several charities just because she has spare time.
They also have positive points as a family. George and Angie filled in at a dunk tank in one episode in order to be involved in their children's school life. In another episode, The Lopez Family turns their home into a haunted house in order to raise money for the factory workers who had lost their salaries as a result of a plane crash investigation. Their daughter Carmen, made baked goods for the American Bake Sale showing that she was involved and the traditional image of an innocent girl baking. Also, Carmen breaks up with her boyfriend at the time, Duncan, because he tried to pressure her into having sex too soon. That demonstrates her morals and how she has control and the ability to say no. All together, the family does noble things like volunteering and making well thought out decisions giving the watchers of the show a certain perception of the television show.
Negative Aspects
The George Lopez show is truly one of a kind. Only two sitcoms in the history of television have been completely cast by Hispanic Americans, “The George Lopez Show” and “Greetings From Tuscan.” The two shows combined account for 44% of all Latino characters in prime-time television, an enormous number considering the amount of shows that air every week. Only 4% of Hispanics make up the cast of prime-time television shows, a miniscule amount considering that Hispanic-Americans are the largest minority group in the United States (Hoffman, 2003).
You would figure that because of the lack of Latinos on television, more Hispanic Americans would tune in to watch “The George Lopez Show.” The facts show however, that Latinos make up just 11% of the viewing population of the show (Porter, 2002). Is this due to the fact that Latinos don’t watch television, or because they don’t like the way their people are being portrayed. “The George Lopez Show” does not properly portray the average Hispanic American family in the United States. In fact, Over one fifth of Hispanic Americans live under the poverty line in the United States, well over the national average. Most Hispanic men don’t finish high school, and millions don’t even speak English. Is the “George Lopez Show” properly portraying Hispanic Americans in this country? Or is it just hopeful thinking on the part of Mr. Lopez on what he hopes will change (Porter, 2002)?
It is true that “The George Lopez Show” does not stoop to the usual levels of stereotyping Hispanics as lazy or gang members (Morales, 2002). For the most part the show does a good job in portraying Hispanics in a non stereotypical way, however, the way that certain characters on the show talk, such as the mother and the brother, are very much the stereotypical Mexican dialect. Also, Lopez’s children are extremely lazy, which is stereotypical of the Hispanic culture, although its also very abundant in teenage culture too (Morales, 2002).
The “George Lopez Show” has been very successful up until now in starting to remove the typical Mexican stereotypes in America, but it still has a long way to go.
