Media Entry #2 Juanita from Billy Madison

Brian Gerker
Media Portfolio Entry #2
10-5-07

Mammy/ Sambo Juanita (Billy Madison)

1.Representation of the Item: The item I wish to represent I could not find anywhere on the internet, nor is there a transcript. I wish to address the movie character Juanita (played by Theresa Merritt) from “Billy Madison.” Juanita is an African American maid living and working for the owner of Madison Hotels. She is always doing the dirty work for her employer, but still always remains in a happy-go-lucky mood. She was usually presented in a maid’s uniform doing some dirty task.
Director:Tamra Davis
Writers (WGA):Tim Herlihy (written by) &Adam Sandler (written by)
Release Date:10 February 1995 (USA) more
Genre: Comedy / Adventure more
Tagline: To inherit his family's fortune, Billy is going back to school... Way back. more
Plot Outline: In order to inherit his fed up father's hotel empire, an immature and lazy man must repeat grades 1-12 all over again.

2. Intro and Why: “Billy Madison” is a comedic film where a young male, Billy Madison (Adam Sandler) is ready to inherit his fathers fortunes, but his father doesn’t think he can handle it. In this film, one character stands out away from the others. This character is Billy’s head maid Juanita (Theresa Merritt). She is always working, doing dirty work like cleaning up after Billy after he drinks all night, and preparing every meal of the day. She is African-American which seems to create some racial differences within the movie. She is always in a good mood and happy to do anything, even though she does the dirty jobs of her wealthy employer. In once scene, she is cleaning up Billy’s dirty laundry laying around his room, and Billy is pretending to be sick to get out of school. Juanita then tells Billy that if he is going to stay home from school, then “He can help [her] shave [her] arm pits,” followed by hysterical laughing.
I chose this item because it is one of my favorite movies, and it has this one particular character that relates to our class discussions. Juanita is a symbol of a happy, jolly worker who is always cheerful, even when she is forced to clean up after her “superiors.”

3.Analysis: The character Juanita seems to strongly relate to some created characters from the slave times like the Mammy and the Sambo. These particular characterizations were brought forth in the film “Ethnic Notions” which we saw in class. The Mammy was a personal slave worker, typically African-American, and always did the chores of her master. Juanita relates to the Mammy in that she is always doing the dirty chores in the movie, such as preparing meals and cleaning up after Billy. Also in Ethnic notions, enslaved workers were visualized by whites as being happy-go-lucky Sambos. This meaning that they enjoyed their enslaved lives and they made the best of it, even though it was cruel work. It gave the image that slaves were jolly and cheerful people despite the work they had to do on the plantations. Juanita also resembles this characterization. She is always in a happy mood no matter what she is doing. The one example that was really striking was when she offered Billy to help shave her armpits and followed with bellows of great laughter. It is clear to me that the character Juanita reflects both the Mammy and the Sambo that were presented in “Ethnic Notions.”

4. Response: After watching the video “Ethnic Notions” my eyes were widened. Never before had I noticed such characters like the Sambo, Mammy, or Pickaninny, but after seeing that, I became aware of examples that actually existed. The first one I thought of was Juanita from Billy Madison. To me her attitude and job status in “Billy Madison” was a pure match to that of the Sambo and Mammy. This class really has some eye openers towards ways that racial differences still exist today, and Juanita is a good example.