MovieChat Forums > Maid in Manhattan (2002) Discussion > Racism... the new product that Hollywood...

Racism... the new product that Hollywood is selling


Hispanic "maid" falls in love with caucasian powerbroker and lifts herself up out of the proverbial gutter. Am I nuts, or is this Cinderella tale the cinematic equivalent of the McDonald's commercial that suggests that if African-Americans work really, really hard one day they too can become fast-food managers? It's particularly nauseating to me that moderately talented people like Wayne Wang, Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci would put their names on this project. John Hughes has never been known for thoughtful work, so I can at least understand why he would naively extend his 80s underdog ethos to this kind of flick, oblivious to the message it sends. You get what you pay for with Jennifer Lopez. "Anaconda": Need I say more?

In a sense, the subject line of this email is wrong. Notwithstanding its Columbia and Sony distribution, technically this is an independent production. Then again, if you look a little further, you'll see that it has Joe Roth's stamp all over it. For those of you unfamiliar with Roth, he was formerly the chairman of Disney Studios and has been involved with such illustrious projects as "The Jerky Boys", "Heavyweights", "Major League", "Angels in the Outfield", "Revenge of the Nerds II" (which he also directed) and everyone's favorite P.C. flick... "Bachelor Party". One might look at "Angie" as the closest equivalent to what I believe that Roth was going for here: New York Italian-American (surrounded, incidentally, by The Sopranos cast) dreams of a better life and, facing various forms of adversity, rises to the challenges of raising a baby.

Somehow, Roth is always able to surround himself with big names. As an example of his popularity with the VIP's, look no further than "America's Sweethearts." Fundamentally, he gives the public what it wants... the secret to many "successful" careers in film. And what does the public want? I'll leave you thinking about that.

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[deleted]

but don't white people live in the bronx to?

Fat People Are Harder To Kidnap

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[deleted]

How true. you do have a point

Fat People Are Harder To Kidnap

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[deleted]

i'm white and i find this to be nonsense...Hilary Swank is from a trailer park and to most white folks that's the equivalence of the bronx or ghetto....LOL

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[deleted]

Yep, this movie is racist drivel. Jennifer Lopez does far more harm than good in her portrayals of Hispanic Americans.

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Racism is big in this movie. Notice all the maids in the hotel? They are all hispanic, asian ,& black. Only the high ranking hotel staffs are white.

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I dont necessarily think that this was racist...its just that in general most maids are of those ethnicity. What I did think was wrong was they way they stereotyped them, Bob hoskins and Miranda Richardson. It was just so excruciating - I'm english and I've never met anyone like Miranda Richardson's character or Bob Hoskins butler. Would you say stereo-typing is the same as racism? Cos then the film was racist to the English people

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Oh get real! IT's not 'racism', it's reality. How often do you see WHITE maids? You see white maids in small town hotels/motels, but in big city hotels, no. Is that racism? Or just the types of jobs that non-whites are willing to take, because they haven't thought about their career future and don't bother to get the education they need in order to NOT have to work as maids.

I have been living on my own since I was 13, and I studied, learned, focused on my career path. I worked as a maid, as a short-order cook, as a waitress, and gawd help me! as a go-go dancer at a disco, working my way into a computer industry career. No one helped me, I never took a handout and when some guy wanted to sleep with me I said, as unbelieveable as it sounds these days "NO", so no unwanted/illegitimate kids, no single-mom raising kids... at least not until I was making 50K a year (great pay 20 years ago) when I ADOPTED a family.

Racism... you know who the racists are in this country? Anyone who thinks 'race' plays a significant part in their ability to succeed. Take a look around you. How many Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian refugees came to this country and 'settled' into a lifetime of welfare and 'white people keep us trapped as maids'. Few. Why? Because they are not victim-mentality people, but people who work for a living, whose entire family works as a team to elevate their living standard, until they are blended into the 'middle- and upper-middle-classes'. A lot of Hispanics do the same thing. It's not white people who are racist. It's 'victim mentality' people who are. And don't try to tell me I don't know what it's like... I'm a fat middle-aged white woman who went out into the work world in the early 60s... and MADE IT ON MY OWN... skills, focus, self-discipline, intelligence, at a time when men didn't give women breaks and it was definitely a 'good ol boy' network. I never blamed any men for that, it was what it was. and today it is what it is. Get over it.

This movie was sweet, a little stilted, and hardly plausible (given that the romantic male lead is a politician). Show me a politician married to a maid and I'll show you a small town guy, not a national politician.

Life is hard. Everyone can say they are 'disrespected' and 'abused' in one way or another. Given that everyone KNOWS how they will be 'disrespected' or 'abused'... they also know how to DEAL WITH IT. JUST DEAL.

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Oh get real! IT's not 'racism', it's reality. How often do you see WHITE maids? You see white maids in small town hotels/motels, but in big city hotels, no. Is that racism? Or just the types of jobs that non-whites are willing to take, because they haven't thought about their career future and don't bother to get the education they need in order to NOT have to work as maids.

I have been living on my own since I was 13, and I studied, learned, focused on my career path. I worked as a maid, as a short-order cook, as a waitress, and gawd help me! as a go-go dancer at a disco, working my way into a computer industry career. No one helped me, I never took a handout and when some guy wanted to sleep with me I said, as unbelieveable as it sounds these days "NO", so no unwanted/illegitimate kids, no single-mom raising kids... at least not until I was making 50K a year (great pay 20 years ago) when I ADOPTED a family.

Racism... you know who the racists are in this country? Anyone who thinks 'race' plays a significant part in their ability to succeed. Take a look around you. How many Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian refugees came to this country and 'settled' into a lifetime of welfare and 'white people keep us trapped as maids'. Few. Why? Because they are not victim-mentality people, but people who work for a living, whose entire family works as a team to elevate their living standard, until they are blended into the 'middle- and upper-middle-classes'. A lot of Hispanics do the same thing. It's not white people who are racist. It's 'victim mentality' people who are. And don't try to tell me I don't know what it's like... I'm a fat middle-aged white woman who went out into the work world in the early 60s... and MADE IT ON MY OWN... skills, focus, self-discipline, intelligence, at a time when men didn't give women breaks and it was definitely a 'good ol boy' network. I never blamed any men for that, it was what it was. and today it is what it is. Get over it.


Who the hell are you directing this screed at?

And make up your mind. Either race matters, or it doesn't, and if it doesn't,
you don't go making a list of ethnicities that have your stamp of approval.

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And don't try to tell me I don't know what it's like... I'm a fat middle-aged white woman who went out into the work world in the early 60s... and MADE IT ON MY OWN... skills, focus, self-discipline, intelligence, at a time when men didn't give women breaks and it was definitely a 'good ol boy' network. I never blamed any men for that, it was what it was. and today it is what it is. Get over it.

I suppose it's just a reaction to your words, but if Martin Luther King had just accepted that black people were treated as second-class citizens, things would probably not have progressed as they are today. And from what I see, it was other women that had to push for more equality and benefits for women in the workplace; it doesn't sound like you were part of that team that "pushed" for it rather than accepted it.

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Oh I know. It's like all of those basketball movies like Blue Chips and their terrible racism suggesting most b ball players are black. Or that horribly racist film The Patriot that suggests English soldiers were all white. It is almost as bad as Apocalyto; I mean, how dare the film makers show an all Mezo-American cast...Damn, some people are just SO racist....

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... Where's the difference? The moral about 'work ethics' is still the same; so no, it's not 'racist'... "Cliched" and "opportunistic", maybe; but not racist.






"Women remember, Steve - it's like they've got minds of their own!"

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[deleted]

Although there was a significant percentage of maids that were Hispanic or black, they were not all minorities. There were several white maids. Also, as has been stated, J-Lo's role almost went to white actresses such as Sandra Bullock. I suppose if J-Lo's character had been white, people who look for racism would have said that the white rich guy would only fall for the white maid. Gee, if you look for faults in people/movies, you'll find them. You just have to twist around the plot and distort facts.

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Did nobody notice that the most racist people (Caroline Lane and her friend) were the bad people? They were portrayed as ignorant idiots. I didn't think it was so bad.

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Get your terms right. There wasn't racism in this movie but CLASSISM. BIIIIG difference.

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Get your terms right. There wasn't racism in this movie but CLASSISM. BIIIIG difference.


Oh I just checked on your posting history, viweed, and found this quote:

I am not fond of american-black people (that victim mentality culture),


Is that racism or classism? I'm still trying to decide, by the way, whether
your rant about commie Canada or the homosexual agenda is my favorite.

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This film wasnt RACIST! at ALL people use that term so lightly these days it was CLASSIST?? Like she shudnt be going out wiv someone lyk dat because shes a maid also it was stereotypical fat black jolly woman, mouthy funny hispanic, posh english biatch it was just stereotypical not RACIST

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isnt ventura an italian name? a lot of the movie jennifer does she usually has an italian last name over spanish. i wasnt really into the movie and didnt pay much attention to what kind of ethnic character she was playing so i could be wrong.

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I'm a white American and had absolutely no problem in this film. That hotel manager guy was a loser though. He really portrayed whites as ugly and nerdy. And he was the only white American in the whole film besides the Ralph's evil one sided politician movie.

Seriously, do you think anyone cares enough to delve into the political ramifications of this POS?

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[deleted]

This movie wasnt racists but stereotypes.Fat black woman, snobby upper class english woman I even get the impression that jlo had something to do with the plots.

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To me, films are made to reflect a current idealogy or sign of the time as it were. The people who make the films, arent racist...they are just showing reality of New York at this time. same with Taxi driver, or saturday Night Fever, both had racism in them, but are showing that thats what it was like at the time. Maid in Manhattan, more and more hispanic people are getting better jobs, and soon spanish will have the highest percentage of language spoken in America, and to me i think this film reflects that hispanic are slowly and surely getting treated better and aspiring to do better things because they can, unlike a few generations past, for example, Marissas mum with her .Know your place. idea.
If you can't say anything constructive about a film...dont say anything at all. :)

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[deleted]

Of course you had no problem with is film, you're white! Enough said. When was the last time your people faced oppression?

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look realreel- the fact is that most senators/political figures are white men and most maids/housekeepers/min wage earners happen to be hispanic. Im not saying that its right, I think it sucks, but for this movie to ignore that fact would just make it even more unrealistic and wasnt the point of the movie to show that she brought him a new perspective on the life of the underpriveleged. More often than not the underpriveleged afre minorities.... sorry its not pc enough for u

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realreel-

Have you ever been to a five-star hotel in New York City? This film isn't being racist, but realistic. Yes, stereotypes are being thrown around (like all the snobby women just happen to be English or French), but its not racism. It's people like you who just love to throw that word around and use it so loosely. It just happens that several maids are Hispanic or Asian (especially in a city like NY). Am I saying that it's right? No, but how realistic would a film be if all the maids were white?

SAVOIR C'EST POUVOIR

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[deleted]

Real life is one thing, and Hollywood making a picture is another. And yes I have seen white maid at Hotels, as well as black maids.

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Same as Pretty Woman, only with a white girl.

++++++
Love means never having to say you're ugly. - The Abominable Dr. Phibes

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