Jennifer Lopez’s “Marry Me” Empowers Ladies in Love

It is taken twenty years however Jennifer Lopez has flipped the script on what it may possibly appear to be to be a Latina on the lookout for love. All it’s important to do is evaluate her new film, “Marry Me,” which comes out this Valentine’s Day weekend, along with her 2002 “Maid in Manhattan” rom-com, and you will discover some main variations. Each movies are romantic comedies that includes Lopez falling in love with a white man throughout class limitations. However in 2022’s “Marry Me,” Lopez is the wealthy and well-known individual, and her love curiosity is the normie (Owen Wilson as math instructor Charlie Gilbert). It is the alternative of “Maid in Manhattan,” the place she performed a resort maid attempting on a visitor’s designer garments when US Senate hopeful Christopher Marshall (Ralph Fiennes) meets her and the romance begins.

On the time, “Maid in Manhattan” was described as a Cinderella story, which clearly nobody’s utilizing to explain Wilson in “Marry Me.” I suppose there is not any equal fairy story of males marrying up, however it’s kind of extra sophisticated than simply that. Within the Cinderella fable, the prince has all the facility and rescues her from her abusive household. Whereas I get the Cinderella take — there’s the magical/borrowed costume, the commoner-to-royal dynamic, the not-so-great mother — it would not fairly match “Maid in Manhattan” as a result of Lopez’s Marisa would not want saving. She’s doing that for herself. And Christopher likes her as a result of she challenges him, paying no deference to his standing. And why would she? For many of the movie, she thinks every time she sees him can be her final. There is not any motive for an extended sport, simply having fun with the second. So “Maid in Manhattan” is simply actually a Cinderella story in the event you put it within the extra fashionable vein like Drew Barrymore’s “Ever After” or Camila Cabello’s model of Cinderella), which all have our heroines standing in energy.

However that is to not say Christopher and Marisa are equal within the movie. She actually has to fake to be another person for him to note her. And whereas the 2 find yourself collectively, it is onerous to consider they’d make it work in actual life. A legacy, white, Republican senator would ultimately count on deference from his Latina housekeeper companion, and there is not any approach that Marisa, who works so onerous to flee her financial scenario, would do this.

I’ve much more hope for the pair in “Marry Me.” Sure, J Lo’s Kat Sandoval is impossibly wealthy with extra fancy homes than certainly any single individual wants. And sure, she’s additionally extremely well-known, the topic of Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Present” monologues and Hoda’s fake early-morning concern, which may give her the leg up on Wilson’s Charlie. However he appears to be doing superb economically with a pleasant home in New York Metropolis and a job he clearly loves. He is additionally bored with fame to the purpose of not even having social media. So the methods wherein Kat has extra energy do not threaten him. As an alternative, their dynamic is extra equal with every instructing the opposite. Charlie learns a few of Kat’s willingness to take dangers, and he or she will get to take pleasure in his model of a less complicated life with out workers or the sensation of being consistently watched.

After all, the opposite motive Kat and Charlie are extra equal than Marisa and Christopher has nothing to do with their respective personalities, however somewhat the methods our society ranks individuals based mostly on gender and ethnicity. As a Latina, Lopez has much less energy than her white love pursuits. It is significantly bleak for Marisa, who additionally has class and superstar to take care of. However even for Kat, the distinction is noticeable. A number of occasions in her movie, she confronts the unfair expectations ladies face.

“The principles as they exist just about suck for ladies,” Kat says in a press-conference room full of reporters. “I imply, why do we’ve got to attend for males to suggest? Why is every part on his phrases? Now I feel it’s time to shake issues. How about this: we choose the man, we maintain our title, and let him earn the suitable to remain.”

It is solely when Kat breaks these norms, selecting Charlie out of the group and marrying him on the spot, that she finds happiness. In the meantime, Marisa is caught within the conventional script, her life outlined by whether or not Christopher notices her. The primary time he sees her, she’s in his resort suite cleansing the toilet, and nothing a lot occurs. Later, he errors her for a visitor, and her entire life will get turned the other way up — together with shedding her job regardless of being up for a promotion. Then, after they cut up, she’s again to being a maid, arguably worse off for her flip within the highlight, having to begin over and take care of the infamy of her indiscretion. When he decides he needs to be collectively along with her on the finish, she’s rescued once more. In the meantime, his life stays just about the identical.

In actuality, extra Latinas are like Marisa than Kat. We’re 58.9% of home cleaners and make the least of any group within the US, with Latinas incomes solely 0.55 cents to the greenback. And I do not assume a few us marrying future Republican senators or changing into pop stars goes to vary that. The exceptions show the rule, as they are saying. However I do assume there’s worth in imagining one thing totally different for us, each economically and romantically. It is progress to see ourselves method potential companions as equals and be within the place to demand and provides love that is nurturing and sincere. That is why I see “Marry Me” as progress, even whether it is only a foolish rom-com.