By Donya Mirtabatabaie, Una Ahac, Gabby Leon-Acevedo
Dr. Henry Puente, an Associate Professor of Communications, focuses on researching U.S. Latino films, media outlets, and race/ethnicity. With a diverse entertainment background, he brings experience from special events, radio, television, newspaper sales, and film distribution. Puente authored “The Promotion and Distribution of U.S. Latino Films” and contributed to journals and books on media and stereotypes. Originally from Azusa, California, he enjoys traveling extensively across the United States, Latin America, and Europe. Since 2006, Puente has taught courses at CSU Fullerton, held a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, an MA from U.S.C., and a BA from CSU Fullerton.
Q. What inspired your research for this particular topic in the study?
He wrote a dissertation on Hispanic films in media and wanted to write something original. He tried to figure out why there were so few films about the Latino population. If they are a growing population in the US, why aren’t Latino movies more significant and popular?
Q. Are there any personal connections to this study, and is there one particular moment you would like to elaborate on?
Aside from his ethnicity drawing him into his study, he used to work in distribution and sales in the film industry, which tied into the study. However, there were not a lot of Latino movies made, so he wanted to highlight why that is and use data to show what that looked like as well.
Q. Were there any facts or elements in the study that were different than you had initially thought before going into this study? What were some challenges when conducting the research for this study?
What surprised me when going about it was research because he had already come from the film industry, so he knew what he was getting into. However, he found the people he spoke to bitter because some of the people he talked to who worked on these films were expecting to have more work moving forward in their careers and didn’t. People felt disillusioned because they worked on the big movies and were left out of work. He had already lived it, lived in the world of cinema. There were lots of challenges trying to find the people who worked on the movies; there was no contact information and not too much social media to go from either; he felt he was a detective at times, trying to get the people to talk to him was challenging, trying to get them to be honest with him was difficult. Most people he spoke to were bitter, upset, and unhappy.
Q. Several years from now, would you want to approach this study again and see if there could have been any changes in the data?
He would not want to do this study again; however, he was approached recently about doing a similar study with DC’s newest film, Blue Beetle. He would rather write scripts than write academic stuff. There would be a lot of changes if he were to approach it again; with the element of social media, it would be a lot easier to contact people. Puente says there might be a chance that he will do another study in the same template, but for now, ‘it’s a maybe.’
Q. How long was the study conducted/How long did it take to finish?
“It didn’t take me that long.” While gathering research was a hassle, writing the study was a simple manner. It took Puente three weeks or less to finish writing the whole article. Now, gathering the evidence, that was otherwise. It took about a year and a half to finish gathering research for this particular article that took three weeks to write. The meaning as to why it took so long was due to dead ends and sources not wanting to talk about the manner at hand. It was understandable as the film industry is huge and comes with its own aftermath talking about a particular subject as to this study.
Q. Did you receive any help conducting the study, or did you do everything yourself?
Puente had the upper hand in gathering research since he worked in the film industry during the time of his article. As I said in the earlier section, it did take a year and a half to finally gather evidence due to dead ends, but Puente would ask around his co-workers, gather numbers, and even text for an interview. This would, at times, lead to nowhere, and even some of the phone numbers would be fake, but in the end, he was finally able to contact his sources and gather some information as some were careful about what they would say considering their contract with the production. Now, writing the article, that was all puente.
Q. How did you feel emotionally when conducting the study? Were you passionate, angry, happy, or anxious?
“Not happy, mix of frustration just trying to talk to people, excitement when having a person wanting to talk.” This is what Puente said when asked about his emotions during the time of his article. It made sense as nobody wants to be shut down from their project or, in this case, study. His case had ups and downs, but in the end, Puente was able to rise to the top and write the article “Marketing and Distribution Lessons from Hispanic Hollywood.
Q. What made you choose the research methods you went with?
While Puente voiced that qualitative research was very difficult, when asked why he chose it over other methods, he said that it was the best method for what he was trying to accomplish in his study. He also mentioned that quantitative research is not his strong suit and that it would not have worked anyway.
Q. What advice would you give someone interested in pursuing a similar research study?
When asked if there was anything he wished he had known prior to conducting his research, Puente had a few suggestions. The first thing he mentioned was IRBs (Institutional Review Boards). An IRB is a group of people responsible for ensuring that research involving humans is conducted in an ethical and safe manner. Puente highlights that it was a complicated process to get IRBs approved. He also talked about how doing qualitative research was a very difficult process. For his study, he had to transcribe all the answers of his interviewees, which he notes was a very long process.
We also asked Puente if he had any advice for those looking to do similar qualitative research. His most significant piece of advice was to “ask good questions and try to keep people on task.” He mentions how those being interviewed can often go off on tangents and get off-topic. He also added that if they do go off on tangents, to only transcribe the portions where they are answering questions. When it comes to the questions asked, he also mentioned that a good question is very important and also challenging. He says questions should not be too specific or too broad.
Q. Were there any notable differences in opinions, beliefs, or attitudes among participants or subgroups in your study
Puente noted that among those he interviewed for his research, there were a couple of different attitudes people had toward the subject. Some were extremely excited to speak on the project they had worked on and were proud. On the other hand, there were others who were more upset. They had expected to gain careers and new opportunities from working on the movies they had taken part in and were disillusioned that it did not work out the way they had expected.
View our full interview with Dr. Puente below.
The Society for Communications Research 