Stereotype or transgression? Rosie Perez in Hollywood films

Through a four-pronged methodology which includes textual analyses of the films, film reviews, and interviews with Rosie Perez as well as possible spectatorship positions to Rosie Perez films, the author examines the construction of Latinas in Hollywood film, especially in regard to traditional ethnic stereotypes. In addition, the author ventures into an understudied area of scholarship - namely the consideration of active audience and Latinas/Latinos. This combined methodology which examines both representation and interpretations - that is the production of meaning both at the sending and reception of popular culture - allows for a complicated reading of what Rosie Perez might mean to different segments of the audience.