Stereotypes Maid About Latina Women

Maid in Manhattan

The movie Maid in Manhattan is a film about a maid working in a high class hotel, who gets the attention of a politician when she is seen trying on clothes of a wealthy guest in the hotel. The politician, played by Ralph Fiennes, quickly falls for the maid, played by Jennifer Lopez, after they spend some time together. This scene from the movie says a lot about race and social class. In the beginning we see some of the maids, not one of them white, dancing around and dreaming of being a manager. In the next sequence we see Lopez (still dressed in her uniform) shopping in high end department stores trying dresses. During this sequence we don't see many women of color in the department store. When you look at the mise en scene of the clip, when the women are in the hotel basement, the lighting is darker, making the area look bleak. Compare that to the department store clip and everything is white and clean looking, making it look like a more desirable place to be.

In the piece written by Fregoso, she talks about Chicana's represented accurately in a film by a white woman. In the case of this movie, it's almost the opposite. A common stereotype in Hollywood is that Latina women are simply housekeeping, and almost all of the maids in this movie are minorities. This gives the idea that until a rich man notices, minorities don't really have a chance at moving up social classes. The reading talked about women being represented and in this movie they are not. I could even go as far to say that it's dependent on the male character in a sort of powerful position (in this case a senator). Overall this movie is centered around a stereotype that doesn't represent the culture as a whole.