Western Gypsies or Eastern Mexicans? Exoticism and Ignorance in the Construction of the Image of Basque Immigrants in American Cinema, 1913-1980

This article analyzes how cinematic and TV industries in the United States (“Hollywood” for short) attempted and managed to create a very specific stereotype of Basque immigrants, based on several elements from different sources such as the local stereotypes created in the places Basque immigrants had settled, based on their monopolistic relationship with sheepherding, the influence and misunderstandings derived from being Basque immigrant citizens from two European states (France and Spain) with strong, recognizable national stereotypes, and the mistaken identification that Hollywood has historically made between the Spanish and Latin Americans.