Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Consuela in Family Guy

I am sure many of you are familiar with the show Family Guy, and know that the show is shameless and not shy about playing with stereotypes. Of course, this is no different for the Hispanic character, and in fact, Consuela is the only Hispanic character I can think of that has ever made reoccurring appearances on the shows. Not to say that one isn’t enough, because she represents every single stereotype I can think of, and on top of that, the other characters constantly make racial statements around her.


To begin with, she is the maid. She doesn’t speak English properly and she is not very intelligent. When Louis introduces her to the family she responds, “Hello Misser Peter, hello miser children.” At one point, Stewie complains that he is missing some “play” money, which Consuela admits to stealing. Not only is she the typical stealing maid, but she is stupid enough to steal fake money. She is also portrayed as very rude and inconsiderate, for example when she plays her radio and television loudly, she brings her nephew to work without the family’s permission, she makes herself at home by elongating her stay even after she is fired, etc. They even make a "Are you smarter than a Hispanic maid?" parody of the show "Are you smarter than a fifth grader?" There are a few other instances where her family is mentioned, and in one of them we learn that her her nephew has been molested and then committed suicide, and another is when she goes visit her son in prison.

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