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  • Domesticating RosarioConflicting Representations of the Latina Maid in U.S. Media
  • Yajaira M. Padilla (bio)

The figure of the doméstica,1 the Latina or Latin American immigrant maid and/or nanny, has become a staple in contemporary U.S. mainstream media. While predominantly a minor or secondary character as is the case in movies such as Down and Out in Beverley Hills (1986), As Good As It Gets (1997), and Babel (2006), the "maid" has also been elevated to that of a lead protagonist in feature films such as Maid in Manhattan (2002), starring Jennifer Lopez. Although garnering a series of mixed reviews, this "fairytale romance" which tells the story of a Bronx-born maid and single mother who falls in love with an Anglo, Republican, senatorial candidate was a blockbuster success debuting at the top its opening weekend and earning more than 18.7 million dollars at the box office ("'Maid' Shades"). Following in suit, was the more recent, James L. Brook's drama-comedy, Spanglish (2004), featuring Spanish actress Paz Vega, who plays a Mexican immigrant maid trying to provide for herself and her daughter by working for a wealthy and dysfunctional Anglo family in Los Angeles. Advertised as "[a] comedy with a language all its own," the film failed to make good on the promise its promotional tagline and title suggested—a productive and nuanced look at the encounter between two different cultures ("Spanglish"). Rather, as one critic suggested, it provided a one-dimensional view of the maid as the "stereotypical noble immigrant,"2 and additionally as the beautiful and sought-after exotic Other.

Still, the success of these two films is significant as it is indicative of what Clara E. Rodríguez observes is the "Latinization" sweeping the United States, initiated in the [End Page 41] 1990s and continuing today (Heroes 213). Not only has there been a rise in Latina/o actors in cinema and television, but the music industry is perhaps the sphere in which this Latino "boom" has been most visible. It has likewise witnessed the rise of recording artists such as Shakira, Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin, and Marc Anthony, not to mention growing interest in musical bands and varying styles from throughout Latin America. While speaking to the rise of "Hispanic marketing" and the consumer potential of Latino peoples, the proliferation of these Latino stars and images in the media are also symptomatic of recent demographic changes experienced in the United States.3 According to the U.S. Census, in the span of time from 1990 to 2000, the Hispanic population grew 61 percent (We the People); and current estimates suggest that by the year 2050, Latinos will account for one-third of the United States' overall population ("An Older"). Increased immigration from Latin America has also added to the further diversification of Latinos and has continued to supply the United States with a significant source of labor in various industries. Historically dominant Latino groups such as Puerto Ricans, Mexican-Americans, and Cuban-Americans have been joined by communities of what Falconi and Mazzotti have labeled as the "Other Latinos": Central Americans and South Americans.4 Receiving sites for immigration have also begun to shift from cities such as Los Angeles, New York, and Miami to other locales, both rural and urban, in Midwestern and Southern states.

Read within this purview of changes in Latina/o representations and new waves of immigration, the depiction of Latina maids and the narratives afforded in the aforementioned mainstream films raise deeper inquiries and issues than the ones Hollywood might like us to believe. Is Maid in Manhattan's "rags to riches" story just that or another reiteration of the ideal of an "American dream" seemingly accessible to all Latinos? How do these visual renderings of Latina servitude act as complex windows into the ways in which the U.S. media contributes to the in/visibility of Latina/os, and, by the same token, participate in what Lisa Lowe has suggested is "the construction of the nation as a simulacrum of inclusiveness"? (5). As a means of exploring the answers to these questions, and the related concerns they raise regarding Latina immigrant subjectivities, transnational...

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