Marisa Fen Character Analysis

Marisa Ventura: Perpetuation to the Submissive-Female Stereotype Latino women in Hollywood films are often portrayed as stereotypical passive-submissive characters. A passive-submissive female character is usually the nurturing figure in a household - she can be found doing the interior housework, teaching the children in their homes, and doing as she is told, no matter what the task at hand is because she just wants 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 common female stereotype; in this film she embodies a lowly and inferior female character in her both in her physical stature and her actions towards her male counterpart, Chris Marshall. By making this female protagonist a latina Cinderella,being swept of her feet by a white prince charming instead of making it on her own in Manhattan, this film makes us see women inferior to men, lower-class inferior to upper-class, and latinas inferior to white males.
Marisa Ventura, a low-class single latina mother, works as a maid in a well-known luxurious hotel in Manhattan to put food on the table for herself and her only son, Ty. As she continues in her daily routine of unpacking suitcases and supplying the guests’ bathrooms, she encounters Chris Marshall, a rich white politician. Working as a maid in Manhattan is still a job, but Marisa really wants to become a hotel manager instead. Stephanie, her friend who …show more content…
She is unable to attain this job on her own since she had to marry a man with a better education and more wealth to achieve this dream of hers. Marisa’s character perpetuates the passive-submissive stereotype since she needs Chris in order to succeed. However, other contemporary films, such as Raising Victor Vargas, reject the passive-submissive female