The Invisible Minority — Part 3: Hollywood
Why the Roma Have Been Forgotten
By Celeste W. and Kathryn M. Edited by Asta M., Angela G. and Doug G. (Keywords: Human Rights, Slavery, Romany, Roma, Gypsy, Romani, Minorities, Justice, Racism, Genocide, History.) This is part of a series. (Previous: Part 2: A Short History)(Next: Part 4: Culture, Pop Culture, and Free Spirits)
Part 3 — Hollywood
The Roma are not mythical creatures
The manner in which the Roma are portrayed in popular culture is abhorrent. Roma are often treated in the same way elves and zombies are treated in movies and television. They are shown as mythical “others”, not as an existing, struggling ethnic group. Hollywood and popular culture systematically dehumanize them or forget them entirely. When Romani people are featured in movies or popular culture, they are often depicted as fantasy-based creatures or villains. The public accepts this because the Roma community has little means to combat this perception. There are few organized groups and no world power which represents Roma.
(https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/15/romany-gypsy-traveller-portrayal-in-film-benedict-cumberbatch)
Description of Romani in Public Media
Stereotype-driven depictions of Romani are all around us. The media, especially Hollywood, has done a poor job of describing and showing Romani characters. (https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/12/20/romani-americans-struggle-with-inherent-criminality-stereotypes)
When Romani individuals are depicted, Hollywood does not always acknowledge that Roma are an actual ethnic group.
Gypsy is a Job
Gypsy is, at its core, a controversial name for Roma. Hollywood movies and television shows have a problematic relationship with the casual use of the term Gypsy. They treat it like it is part of a job title or description. Gypsy often refers to either criminal behaviors or individuals who are nomadic by choice. This is evidenced by the use of the term “amber Gypsies’’ to mean black market dealers, specializing in trafficking the bodies, on the popular show Fringe, created by J. J. Abrams. Another example is the casual reference to other characters being “corporate Gypsies” by one of the children on the show Just Add Magic on Amazon. Both of these shows are progressive and intended for diverse populations, yet they have a complete lack of knowledge about Roma and the history of the word Gypsy.
Hollywood is the Worst
Even when Hollywood acknowledges that Roma are an ethnic group in some way, they mishandle it.
Sometimes Hollywood writers appear to have some loose knowledge that Roma are an ethnic group, but this appears to be limited to stereotypes. Shut Eye, a short-lived show on Hulu, portrayed Roma as thugs who deliberately intimidate and bilk people out of their money, while contrasting them against a “real”’ non-Romani psychic.
The 2011 movie Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows has a Gypsy fortune teller that is a scam artist. She is based on two stereotypes: the cheat and the fortune-teller. She is shown as heroic but she is still shown as a stereotype. The actress, Noomi Rapace, does not appear to be of Romani heritage. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1515091/)
Perhaps worst of all is the Netflix original series “Gypsy”, which uses the word to describe the main character, a psychotherapist who uses unethical means to invade the privacy of her clients. The term is used to imply dishonesty, a lack of ethics, and a disorganized lifestyle, rather than as an ethnic designation. This series was first released in 2017.
Magic
A popular Hollywood trope is to show Roma as mythical creatures. While the trope of showing Roma as a profession or a job is popular with drama, fantasy shows and movies depict the Roma in a similar manner to witches or demons.
In episode two (The Darkness Beneath) of the television show Constantine, the main character reveals that he knows the villain is “Roma” right before commenting “there is nothing darker than Gypsy magic.” There is clearly some awareness of the ethnic group, yet the statement makes members of it to be the same as the demons depicted in the show. She is inherently bad because she is Roma.
“There’s nothing darker than Gypsy magic.” — John Constantine.
(https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3489184/)
Charmed (the 1998 version) showed Gypsies that have similar abilities to the magical protagonists, and are especially skilled in clairvoyance, aligning with the stereotypes of the Roma. They are shown as supernatural creatures that are divorced from their ethnicity. Again, this show had progressive leanings yet othered Roma.
(https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0539447/)
The popular show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and its companion show Angel, portrayed Angel (aka the vampire with a soul) as having been the recipient of a Gypsy curse. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162065/) (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagicalRomani)
Disney’s Failure
Disney is terrible at depicting Roma. This is of great concern because children grow up unaware that the Roma are a people, or even human.
The 2003 depiction in Disney’s The Haunted Mansion was problematic but typical. Yet, there is no warning in the MPAA rating and there is no public outcry about this depiction.
There are a few issues with the depiction of the Romani characters in The Haunted Mansion beyond the use of the term Gypsy. The Romani character was not played by a Romani actress. Even though she was not Romani, producers cast an actress with facial features that align with the Gypsy archetype and are found in some Roma due to the ethnicity’s unique origin, like a wider face and darker, curly hair.
The Haunted Mansion character didn’t get a body, but instead, the ghost Roma character was a disembodied head in a crystal ball. When the other main characters went on to heaven, she didn’t join them. We didn’t learn about her past, her family, or anything outside of her job. She was trapped in a stereotypical symbol tied to her ethnic group. She was removed from the mansion and taken, against her will, away from the castle as the main characters drive away at the end of the film. All of these things are questionable decisions.
The characters in Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame are problematic as well. First, the story was written by a white man and the description of the Roma in the story was extremely troubling. The only beautiful Roma in the original novel was apparently not a Roma at all, but a French woman taken by the Roma as a child. In the Disney version, they changed this; she was depicted as ethnically Roma. This is clear because she had the physical traits associated with the stereotypical Roma “look” of having tan skin, green eyes, and curly dark hair. She did lack other features that many Roma have such as wide cheekbones and a distinctively shaped nose. The features she had indicate that the animators likely based her solely on stereotypes and didn’t have a human Romani model to base the character on. As of the 22nd of May 2021, the authors have observed that on Disney+ the description of the Hunchback of Notre Dame uses the word Gypsy in lower case letters (Gypsy and Gypsies) and while there is a warning that the film contains tobacco use there is no notice concerning its racist portrayals.
In the Common Sense Media review of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the reviewer explicitly uses the word Gyspy while referring to Esmerelda and offers no commentary on the racism in the film apart from stating that Esmerelda fights for justice for her people and her “family of Gypsies”. (https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame-1996?utm_expid=.hUiP8SXRSgqaELKCphvkCA.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commonsensemedia.org%2Fsearch%2Fthe%2520hunchback%2520of%2520notredamn)
The main villain, Stromboli, in Disney’s Pinocchio is a Romani man. There are clues to that. Stromboli's features resemble the stereotypical Gypsy archetype. His darker skin tone, wider nose, brown eyes, pointy head, and dark hair reads as Romani, not Italian, especially compared to the paler Geppetto. Geppetto has a rounder top of his head, blue eyes, and a smaller nose. Stromboli, the villain, lives in a traditional house cart and dresses in clothing associated with Roma. Puppet shows and the making of marionettes are traditional crafts in some Romani families. The animators did not hide that he was based on a Roma stereotype. He lives in a caravan, dressed in stereotypical men’s Roma cloths, and has his puppet show. The only Roma we see is the villain. (https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Stromboli)(http://outoftheclosetembraciningdisney.blogspot.com/2013/02/pinocchio-stromboli.html)
Even Disney’s beloved animated Robin Hood uses stereotypical tropes when the main characters, Robin Hood and Little John, disguise themselves as fortune tellers to stop King John’s carriage. The characters use their Romani disguises and fortune-telling as a pretext for stealing. Although this film is meant to portray abuse from the English upper classes, it portrays Roma, once again, as a people whom it is acceptable to impersonate and who are expected to steal.
There Are No Consequences
Unlike Peter Pan, which contains a content warning acknowledging the harmful cultural portrayals of Indigenous Americans, there are no such content warnings for Disney movies portraying the Romani people. Simply put, the harm done to Romani children through these portrayals is considered less important than the portrayal of tobacco usage.
There simply is no backlash against Roma discrimination.
It is noteworthy that Common Sense Media, one of the more trusted sites for rating family films and warning parents about racist content, makes no commentary about the Romani character in The Haunted Mansion.
Even when the premise of the show is racist against Roma, it is rarely addressed. Common Sense Media is one of the few places that acknowledge that Gypsy is a slur in their overview of Shut Eye but they fail to properly acknowledge the show’s underlying racist premise. (https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/shut-eye?utm_expid=.hUiP8SXRSgqaELKCphvkCA.0&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commonsensemedia.org%2Fsearch%2FShut%2520Eye
Representation Matters
In general, there are very few Roma represented in the media. When they are represented, Roma are either stereotypes or, rarely, Roma are featured in gritty documentaries or indie films .
Roma are noticeably absent from superhero shows and movies. The popular television show “The Flash” featured a character named Gypsy. This show, and related shows, are forward-thinking on trans issues, other racial issues, and tackle these subjects in a sensitive manner. Yet, they named a character after a Roma slur. There is no mention of this character’s ethnic background and the actress has not mentioned her ethnic background and has not said she is of Romani heritage.
(https://arrow.fandom.com/wiki/Cynthia)(https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2886648/)
Marvel had a chance of featuring a Romani main character when casting for Scarlet Witch. Instead, they chose to hire a white actress and erase any reference to the character’s past ties to her Romani heritage.
(https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/wandavision-scarlet-witch-romani-heritage/)
There have been multiple chances for Roma to be displayed in a positive light and featured as superheroes. But instead, characters are named “Gypsy” and Roma characters are ignored or whitewashed.
We Need Change
If creators truly want to be inclusive and forward-thinking, they should consider stepping up and including positive Roma characters with the help of Roma actors, actresses, and writers. Likewise, the general population should be aware of the massive gap in the rating system regarding racist portrayals of Roma people.
