Maid In Manman Character Analysis

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Hollywood film directors have implemented Latino women by having these women portray stereotypically passive-submissive characters. However, some films have chosen to deviate from this passive-submissive stereotype by turning female characters into antagonists towards male counterparts. A passive-submissive female character is usually the nurturing figure in a household - they can be found doing the interior housework and teaching the children in their homes. This type of character also tends to just do as they are told, no matter what the task at hand is because they just want to please the person that they deem as authority. Jennifer Lopez’s character, Marisa Ventura, in Maid in Manhattan can be read as a perpetuation to this female-driven …show more content…

Since Marisa is shorter than him, he is able to tower over; this causes her to lose her own personal space which makes her lose control of her surroundings. This allows Chris to manipulate Marisa and get what he wants and, in the beginning, it appears that he is only interested in Marisa because of the psuedo-wealthy persona she accidentally makes for herself after her second encounter with him. He first met her in the bathroom in her maid uniform and does not give her a second look. However, after he mistakenly takes her for a richer woman by believing that she is staying in an expensive suite and seeing her dressed in a five-thousand dollar outfit, he seemed to have a larger interest in her. By initially making wealth an unattainable and only a possibility in a dream for this Latina’s life, this perpetuates the passive-submissive stereotype by making Marisa depend on her fake riches to keep the attention of the man she believes that she loves. Marissa’s mother, while only shown for a short while in this film, also contributes to Marisa’s perpetuation of the passive-submissive female …show more content…

While one reacts positively to this and the other reacts negatively, both women show complication of this stereotype. Judy’s dominant character portrayal empowers other women to stand up for themselves and shows that they can live just fine without a man. However, Marisa directly contrasts this by needing Chris to be successful and to get out of the poverty that she has. Marisa and Chris change Cinderella a latina love story by giving her a white “prince charming.” This parallel of this Anglo-love story and having it translated into a latina love story cause viewers to see Marisa as a stereotypical passive-submissive character, which causes others to see Latinas as passive-submissive females in real

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