In a feature story in The Arizona Republic yesterday, School of Theatre, Film & Television Assistant Professor Orquidea Morales recounts how her passion for the horror film genre – both as a fan and as an academic – grew from watching scary Hollywood movies dubbed in Spanish and listening to eerie Mexican folk tales as a young person. “Horror cinema tells us a lot of truth,” Morales said. “It helps us deal with fears that we don’t know how to process otherwise.”
While horror is a preferred genre among Latino moviegoers, Morales notes the disparity in Latina representation on the screen. She referred to UCLA’s most recent Hollywood Diversity Report, which found people identified as Latinx made up only 2.3% of the share of 2022 theatrical film leads compared to the 78.4% share held by whites. The same report found four horror genre films within 2022’s 10 theatrical films with the biggest share of audience members identified as Latinx for opening weekend and total box office.
Morales does see a less bleak future for Latinas in horror cinema. With the rise of stars like Jenna Ortega, the 22-year-old Mexican American and Puerto Rican who currently stars in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and had a leading role in the last two Scream franchise films (directed by Matt Mettinelli-Olpin and TFTV alum Tyler Gillett), Morales sees hope. Ortega’s work has made her a “new horror queen” and a “Latina goth girl” without precedence. Morales will highlight the importance of Ortega’s rise in Hollywood in an upcoming episode of her podcast Monstras: Latinx Monsters & Folklore, which she co-hosts with fellow horror fan Brenda Salguero.
Read more about Morales’ focus on the portrayal of Latinas in horror, and on La Llorona – the tale from Mexican folklore that has long haunted her and which formed the basis for her dissertation – at the link below.
Read more at The Arizona Republic