| This paper documents the Latino history with the television sitcom genre, exploring how issues of underrepresentation and negative representation lead to Latino themed media being held to imagined ideals of authentic representation. I assert that this constitutes hypercriticism, an unexpected prejudice targeting underrepresented minorities, preventing variety in representational forms. In my discussion, I theorize authenticity as dynamic with numerous possible manifestations, contrasting it to the concept of accuracy, which necessitates a comparison to an ideal. The show, George Lopez, and the analysis, "The George Lopez Show: The Same Old Hispano?" by sociologist John Markert will serve as a case study. |
