Spanglish: The Language of Latin Stereotypes

John Newell October 3, 2015 Prepared for Dr. Dugan HUM 225 Paper Assignment #1 Final Draft [Word Count: 1953] Spanglish: The Language of Latin Laborers Latino’s are often stereotyped as criminals, the Latin temper (specifically among women), steamy lovers, violent “lovers,” or as laborers and the 2004 film Spanglish manages to portray all of these Latin stereotypes with specific emphasis on laborer. However this film dresses up the Latin laborer stereotype so well by involving several other Latin stereotypes. The underlying stereotype of all the other stereotypes is indeed Latin laborer, however this film provides a unique example of having several stereotypes utilized concerning the main protagonist and therefore it makes for a perfect example of how even with what appears to be good intentions, Hollywood is consistently racist no matter what attempts they make trying to prove otherwise. These other stereotypes will come with time throughout this essay concerning different scenes and character development after the definition of Latin laborer is presented. The stereotype that Latinos are laborers is one that quite shamelessly runs rampant throughout our media. The laborer is usually associated with a person of darker complexion and also commonly a foreigner from a Spanish speaking country. United States politics may have a lot to do with the creation of this stereotype but the media reinforces it greatly. The idea that these immigrants are poor, escaping a country that oppresses them and that they will do any kind of work necessary to survive but intellectually are only qualified to be laborers, is one that has been around long before the film industry even began. In contrast to the affluent and lazy White American the stereotypical Latin laborer is often portrayed as an old world simpleton with an uncomplicated life due to their simple mindedness nature. They are portrayed as intensely passionate, incredibly hard working, and extremely grateful for their laborious opportunities. Even though this country has a massive Latino population (most of which are U.S. citizens), this stereotype continues to be portrayed by Latino characters as though it is perfectly acceptable. With fear of offending Black people and Jewish people, the fear of offending Latinos seems to be far from the minds of film and television producers. Apparently there seems to be no acknowledgment of this even being an offensive stereotype but rather a stereotype that is portrayed as humorous or in the case of Spanglish, admirable. The film Spanglish is unsurprisingly written and produced by a white man with a lot of credibility and power in Hollywood. The man is none other than the legendary television and film producer James L. Brooks. Once again Hollywood attempts to appear progressive with their socially driven content but again as usual fails at progressing and instead reinforces ridiculous and rather harmful stereotypes. With the political and social unrest concerning immigration from Mexico, Hollywood decided that a film portraying a Latino immigrant mother while showing examples of several different Latin stereotypes like an escaping abusive lover, escaping an oppressive government, the stereotype of needing a white messiah, the old-world knowledgeable spiritual simpleton, the steamy Latin lover, and their desire to party with fellow laborers in their quaint drunken ways. The beginning of the film provides three different stereotypes together, first the abusive Latin lover, fleeing an oppressive government, and meeting the white messiah. It begins with the protagonist Flor Moreno fighting with her husband then during a bout of verbal onslaught she escapes her abusive relationship and takes her daughter Cristina with her to the United States to pursue a better life. After meeting up with an old friend Flor finds work for a wealthy Chef by working as his housekeeper. This stereotype screams so loudly it makes it difficult to listen to the dialogue during this scene, I wish this was the case with everyone else in the theatre. The stereotype of the old world simplemindedness plays a large role in order to tug at the viewers’ heartstrings, when we are forced to watch a wealthy white family implode with acts of absurdity and dysfunction. And amid all the chaos our dear protagonist Flor manages to maintain composure. More than merely maintaining composure, Flor attempts to help this rich dysfunctional white family face and resolve their problems. In this case the simple wisdom of the laborer is seen as a savior to the “first world problems” that the white family faces. The Latin laborer is considered too simple and down to Earth to understand why these problems the family faces are even there to begin with, but her simplemindedness is portrayed in the form of juxtaposition to the complexity of white American culture, yet her primitive “magic” has its way of working. Spanglish doesn’t only portray the Latin laborer stereotype with the character of Flor but also reinforces the stereotype with other characters Flor encounters including a gardener for the family, the workers at the father’s restaurant, and her various other friends she gets acquainted with at communal gatherings of other Latin laborers. It seems that all images within this film save the image of Flor’s daughter Cristina – who is a grade A student, are portrayed as laborers either in form of kitchen staff, landscapers, bus boys, and construction workers. These images that Latinos are laborers is constantly impressed upon the viewers throughout the entire film. The role of laborer is used to not only separate White people from Latinos but also to stimulate the audience’s emotions to feel sympathy or more realistically, pity. The scene when Flor is first introduced to the matriarch Deborah Clasky her name is made fun of as Deborah mispronounces it as “floor.” Flor takes this abuse and disrespect unaware of Deborah’s intention, which was to be funny, and sees it as a simple language problem because at this point in the film Flor can’t speak English. Hired on the spot for her youthful build and polite manners, Flor begins to discover this crazy White family. This is where the film had an opportunity to have Flor stand up for herself and not take abuse but that would never sell to the masses; or so the Hollywood machine thinks. The stereotype of steamy Latin lover appears next and begins to increase the tension because of it when Flor meets John Clasky, the husband of Deborah and father of their children. She feels some affection for this great man after Deborah calls their daughter “fat”. Because he consoles his daughter and Flor is a witness. This moment gives Flor the idea that her own daughter would be good to have around as a translator, but also she decides that maybe it’s a good idea to learn English so she can communicate better with the family. This is another image of Latin laborer being portrayed as Flor stays up late after long days of housekeeping to study English from some language videotapes. The idea that Flor can work all day then go home to her own daughter Cristina and later study English is a strong Latin laborer image. The stereotype pertaining to the Latin temper makes its appearance when Deborah discovers that Flor has a daughter who is extremely intelligent and beautiful, she takes it upon herself to attempt to give Cristina all the things her laborer mother can’t afford. Another Latin stereotype rears its ugly head as the fiery Latin temper appears when Flor discovers that both Deborah and John are spoiling Cristina by accosting both husband and wife in a “mile-a-minute” tongue lashing in her native language. The mix of old world simplemindedness and spiritual guide are both quite apparent when Flor’s humility and simple solutions to life’s problems is used as an aid to fix this family while still providing for her own daughter. Flor shows her nurturing nature as she on several occasions successfully helps John and Deborah’s daughter Bernice overcome her low self-esteem caused by her being overweight. After Deborah calls her fat Flor helps her understand that it’s okay to be a little overweight and her mother is just a confused and complicated woman with too much on her plate. The wisdom of the simple-minded, old world, Latin laborer is reinforced strongly during this scene. The steamy Latin lover stereotype appears again in the film when witnessing the love his daughter has for Flor, John starts to see Flor in a different light, one of romance. Spanglish isn’t short of Latin stereotypes and in this instance the Latin lover stereotype is heavily infused. Noticing John’s newfound affection for her, Flor tries not to fall in love with him and shows her strength and stubborn resolve, which is another aspect of a Latin laborer, or even just general stereotypical Latin characteristic. The Latin laborer can’t have relations other than physical, with their employer. This is a stereotype of old world virtue and morality no matter how ridiculous and false, that is attributed to the Latin laborer. Successfully evading John’s advances as well as her own feelings of attraction towards him, Flor maintains a silent stern professional image one associated with Latin laborer and old world morality. The audience seems to be perfectly okay with John’s near infidelity even though if one were to look closer one would see the similarity of master and slave relations and roles. One may argue that Flor isn’t a slave and is free to quit and do whatever she wants, but that is not quite all that correct. Flor is a slave to a system set up by political immigration policies and lower class laborer roles. Flor is at the mercy of her boss because she needs the work to afford to take care of her daughter but also as a means to stay away from her old life in Mexico. The Latin laborer stereotype is also present during a scene where Flor is with her fellow Mexican immigrants having a party drinking and dancing. The Latin laborer is portrayed as someone who can still party and party hard. This scene reinforces the image that the lower class laborers are content with what they have in life and have parties on their free time. The belief that Latin laborers are content and that they like to party spending their earnings after a long day or week of work, is silly and insulting. It shows them as simple folk who only deal with the less important aspects of life while their employers have the burden of facing real life issues and solving real life problems, which the Latin laborers aren’t qualified to take part. According the film and American mentality, Flor is actually quite lucky. However this couldn’t be farther from the truth because in a fair society free of racial and ethnic stereotypes Flor wouldn’t be a laborer but instead she could be whatever she chose to be. The intentions this film claims to attempt to showcase are considered by most to be progressive towards immigration, that immigrants are good-hearted people who just want a better life for themselves and for their families. It also attempts to make the point that affluent White families aren’t as well functioning as they often portray themselves in public. While these intentions seem to be positive, they also reinforce several negative stereotypes concerning Latinos. Often the well intentioned are very blind of the negative effects of their work. I honestly think James L. Brooks was trying to tell a sentimental story of a Mexican immigrant’s struggles to give herself and her daughter a better life then the life she left behind in Mexico. But the system of racism is a well-oiled machine that often operates under the guise of progressivism and often does more harm than good. Thus is the case with the film Spanglish. Work Cited Hooks, Bell. Cultural Criticism and Transformation part 1 & 2. YouTube. December 10th, 2006 Latinos Beyond Reel: Challenging Media Stereotypes. Mesa Community College Library. Film. Spanglish. Dir. James L. Brooks. Perf. Adam Sandler, Téa Leoni, Paz Vega, Shelbie Bruce, and Sarah Steele. Columbia Pictures Corporation. 2004. Film 1