ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly traces the historical development of the Chicana screen image. However, before embarking on this historical excursion, it addresses a few of the analytical issues involved in assessing ethnic media depictions in general and Chicana images in particular. Filmmakers create films with Chicana, Mexicana, and Hispana characters. The films present these images to viewers, whether or not the filmmakers intended to contribute to the creation of a Chicana image. The problem confronting the would-be analyst of Chicana depictions is ascertaining just exactly who on screen is a Chicana. The process applies not just to Chicanas and other United States Latinas. Think of the films one has seen that have characters with Eastern European surnames. During the first three decades of motion pictures in the United States, Chicana characters—for that matter, Mexicanas and other Latinas in both the United States and Latin America—did not fare well, generally having little importance on the silver screen.
