Over the years, Hollywood has depicted Colombia to be a violent and drug-affiliated country. This negative image of Colombia has upset many of its people, especially with the new movie Colombiana coming out. The movie stars Zoe Saldaña as Cataleya, a young assassin seeking revenge for the murder of her parents. Oddly enough, Saldaña’s character is supposed to be from the capital of Colombia – Bogotá – yet Saldaña herself is of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent. So much negative buzz has been stirred up that an anti-Colombiana campaigns have been made on social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, using the hashtag #ColombiaIsBeautiful. Carlos Macías, president of the organization PorColombia, also spoke about the issue, saying: “We are not happy with Sony Pictures cashing in on our already tarnished reputation. Anyone can highlight positive or negative stereotypes; we only ask that you do it within context, not just randomly for your benefit while denigrating others.” Another thing upsetting people about the film? Colombiana was not even filmed in Colombia – it was filmed in parts of Chicago, Mexico, Paris, and New Orleans.
