ABSTRACT
In Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (David Mirkin, 1997) and Legally Blonde (Robert Luketic, 2001), female friendship and the relations between work and femininity are both significant dimensions of the neo-feminist paradigm. Maid in Manhattan (Wayne Wang, 2002), in contradistinction, takes up the problem of race and immigrant assimilation as the obvious stumbling block in the neo-feminist success formula-a paradigm presupposing that hard work and goodwill inevitably result in wealth and self-fulfillment. The film seemingly offers a more democratic vision of the Cinderella story, with an emphasis on work and career. Despite its inclusion of a Nuyorican protagonist, Maid in Manhattan nevertheless offers a rigid set of norms to which the successful woman must conform.1
