Devious Maids was created by Marc Cherry, the creator of Desperate Housewives. The show Desperate Housewives aired from 2004 to 2012 and was very successful. Devious Maids, so far, has four seasons and has been successful as well. Eva Longoria is part of the team of executive producers. The show was first aired by the network Lifetime on June 23, 2013. Season four episode one will be aired on June 6, 2016, through Lifetime.
The show series consists of drama, mystery, and comedy. The series is about five Latinas who work as maids in Beverly Hills. These Latinas all have dreams and aspirations to become someone in life. The five Latinas are Marisol Suarez (Ana Ortiz), Rosie Falta (Dania Ramirez), Zoila Diaz (Judy Reyes), Valentina Diaz (Edy Ganem), and Carmen Luna (Roselyn Sanchez). Marisol Suarez is an educated woman who disguises a maid to find out who killed a young maid. Her son was framed for the murder of the maid. Marisol is a desperate mother that, like any other mother, would do whatever it takes to help her child. Rosie is a maid who emigrated from Mexico after the death of her husband. Since her husband’s death, Rosie had to work to support her child, and if she stayed in Mexico, she was not going to be able to survive. Zoila is married and has a teenage daughter. Zoila works as a maid to help her husband support their family. Zoila’s daughter wants to further her education and be someone in life. Valentina is rebellious; she wants to fit in with a crowd that Zoila believes she does not belong to because of her race and social status. Carmen works as a maid until she is discovered by a music label to become a famous singer. She hates being a servant, but gossip keeps her entertained.
https://youtu.be/JAh-5K2F7dI
Marisol is an example of a Latina who is educated and has a career, as a professor. She is the second generation of Latino and does not speak Spanish; she speaks English well compared to Carmen and Rosy. Marisol does not have a husband; all she has is her son. Marisol disguises herself as a maid and helps in the release of her son. In doing so, she then confesses to her new maid friends she is not a maid. She then writes a book about her experience as an educated Latino, who disguises herself as a maid to free her son. In the book, she includes stereotypes and the treatments that Latina maids are exposed to. Latina maids are often seen as thieves, liars, uneducated, inhumane, and criminals. Similar to the stereotypes in Born in East LA, Zoot Suit, and West Side Story. Every time something goes missing in the home, no matter how valuable, the employer blames the maids. When the maids find out that she posed to be a maid; they all responded differently but for the most part, they felt betrayed. She becomes wealthy and purchases a home in Beverly Hills. Some of her maid friends feel that she has assimilated to being wealthy and white; again, they feel betrayed. The character of Marisol is an educated Latina, who goes above and beyond for her son, love, and friends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrwUEabz_gw
Rosie’s story is a typical but sad story many mothers go through when obligated by the circumstances to immigrate to make a living. She left her son behind in Mexico with family; they talk and write letters often. Rosie’s employer is the typical white, wealthy family who pays the maid to work endlessly in the home and with the children. As Rosie cares for the children of her employer, she thinks about her own, the sad reality of many immigrant women who become nannies and maids. Eventually, she is reunited with her son. Like many immigrant children, he has a hard time assimilating and learning the language.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLNQFIce_vk
Zoila is a first generation Latina. Zoila married young and had her daughter young. Like many mothers, she is afraid her daughter will follow her footsteps. She is strict with her daughter, similar to the mother of America Ferrera in Real Women Have Curves. The only difference is that Zoila wants her daughter to be an educated and successful Latina. Her only fear is for her daughter to be mistreated by the Beverly Hills community which is white and rich. The Beverly Hills community sees the maids and workers who are mostly Latinos as second class citizens, uneducated, and criminals. Once her daughter graduated high school, she began to work as a maid to save money to go to college.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMll1_L47VQ
Zoila’s daughter is Valentina. She wants to become educated, be successful, and fit in with the Beverly Hills crowd of teens. Her mom does not want her to date nor have friends that live in Beverly Hills. She is afraid they will discriminate against her because she is poor (not wealthy) Mexican American (not white) and resides in Los Angeles (not Beverly Hills). Valentina wants to fit in and as a rebellious daughter, she dates a young white man who is wealthy and lives in Beverly Hills.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLgURs9qOv0
Carmen immigrated to the United States of America to be discovered as a singer. She has an accent and hates being a maid. She does not have children and is portrayed as a sexy Latina, who sleeps around for favors and money. Carmen’s character is a stereotyped personality, which others may have about Latinas being hypersexual, promiscuous, and money hungry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVlp9cA4-s4
The five protagonists are characterized based on assumptions and stereotypes. The actresses are Latinas portraying Latinas both in a positive and negative manner. Marisol as the successful and educated one, Zoila as the one who became a mother and married at a young age, Rosie the one who left her family behind to work, Valentina a rebellious daughter, and finally Carmen the promiscuous one. Do you agree with me that the women are both portrayed in a positive and negative way? Or are they portrayed in a positive or negative manner? The series was created around the women and their experiences as maids, mothers, friends, lovers, and daughters, similar to Real Women Have Curves. The only difference is the men are not all passive, caring, and loving. The series illustrates the stereotypes and hidden meanings Nericco addressed in his article in relation to the cartoon of Speedy Gonzalez. I enjoy watching this series, but the series is full of stereotypes of how Latinas and whites interact.
The series is available through Amazon Prime and Hulu.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2226342/
http://www.hulu.com/devious-maids
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DKSAIJM?ref_=aiv_dp_season_select
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lvcdfdA_Ss
I enjoyed your blog! I like how you explained the characteristics of each protagonist in this show. I found it helpful how you explained each of them and I liked how you connected the similarities of stereotypes to the films we have viewed and discussed in class such as: Zoot Suit, BiELA, and WSS. From reading your blog I was also able to make those connections and that of RWHC with Zoila and her daughter, Valentina. When I first saw commercials of this show, it didn’t get my attention, saw it as just nosey maids, but after reading your blog and the class films review and discussions, I now have a new perspective in viewing this and films in general. Great Blog!
At first, when I saw the trailers for the series, I thought it was just a drama series. The series have crime, mystery, and comedy. I also noticed that it was from the same creator of Desperate Housewives, Eva Longoria, is an executive producer, and some of my favorite actresses are in the series. If I am not mistaken Carlos Ponce, and Eva Longoria is going to be part of the new season. I did not see the stereotypes until the professor started to point them
out in the films. The readings explained the stereotypes very well. I used to watch the show for pleasure; now I am going to watch the new season and analyze it. See you soon friend.
I enjoyed your review. I also liked how you went into each character. I’ve never seen this show but from your review it seems like it’s almost a Latina version of Desperate Housewives. But it looks like it hits all the stereotypes of Latina women. Being maids, being hot, sexy, women. I like how each woman has a different experience with being a Latina woman. And I love how most of the women in this series seem to be portrayed as strong, independent, women. I have to say I also like the actresses and am happy to see a series made up of a Latina female cast! Good job on your post!
Devious Maids sound like a very typical stereotype of Latinas in the movies and in the United States. Some of the issues that the show portrays is so true about what most Latinos have to go through in the process of making a better life in the United States. Yes, I do agree with you on the point you make about always blaming the maids that work in this homes because they have the stereotype of Latinos being thieves, liars, and criminal. However, in the show most of these women are educated and have goals to be someone in life, that reminded me of Real Women Have Curbs. Great Post!
I am glad you enjoyed reading my review. I hope it was helpful and you were able to obtain a better understanding on how media portrays Latinas. I love this show and it is a similar concept to Desperate Housewives, but it centers around the maids instead of the wives. So it’s a different perspective.
Yes, these women are very similar to Ana from Real Women Have Curves. Sadly, we are stereotyped similar to the character of Speedy Gonzalez and the stereotypes used in the cartoon.
I’ve seen promos for this show but its never caught my attention. I assumed it was a drama. Thank you for breaking it down and introducing the characters, you’ve provided a sense of familiarity. I agree the show plays on the various Latina stereotypes from maid to Spitfire, and its interesting you note the Employers always suspect the maids of stealing things. I worked with people that would blame the cleaning personnel every time a dime went missing. The majority of my coworkers were not white, yet this prejudice existed against the mostly Latino cleaning personnel.
As the series develops it appears to be turning the Latina characters into successful, ambitious women, that are coming into their own.
The series takes place in Beverly Hills, California. According to the series, only white people live in the community. Rosie’s first employers were white actors, one of Carmen’s employers was a Latino pop star, Valentina’s and Zoila’s employer is an elderly white, wealthy woman, and Marisol’s employer were an elderly white couple. For the most part, the Beverly Hills community was white, and they wanted to keep it that way. Domestic work is a job that is looked down at, and the women are mistreated. I have noticed it is becoming common to hire domestic workers among middle class and lower class. But domestic workers are low paid, mistreated, and accused of stealing. Also, Latinas are preferred as domestic workers and nannies according to the series. I also read an article that mentioned that preference.
I really liked your blog and how you broke down each character and made it it’s own star of the show. I too have seen promos for this show but it never caught my eye and i have not seen it, but it looks very funny and interesting. I find it very Hollywood-ish that they make some maids be very sexy and promiscuous and some almost home-y like a “real” mother would be. It seems like they have built in the stereotypes into each character and really played on the “angry” Latina against the “snobby” White people, like described in your blog it is rich white employers versus poor struggling Latina employees, It would be wishing too hard to have strong Latinos be the rich person and the whites be the maids at least once. Great Blog!