Essay: Farewell to Maddy Perez, the complicated Latina baddie who dominated 'Euphoria'
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It was the summer of 2019, and HBO’s new gritty teen drama was everywhere.Love it or hate it, “Euphoria” was unavoidable, and everything from its soon-to-be megastars to the clothes, makeup and overall aesthetic of its neon-lit universe was seeping out from the confines of the screen and into the real world.And at the center of this vibe shift, with raven-black hair and eyeliner as razor-sharp as her comebacks, was Mexican American actor Alexa Demie as Maddy Perez.On paper, Maddy shouldn’t have been a particularly remarkable character.
How often have we seen the popular high school cheerleader navigate a toxic relationship with the school’s hot jock? And how routinely have we seen a Latina relegated to the background, or sidelined once she’s fulfilled her role as a foil — the temptress, the toxic girlfriend, the temperamental best friend — for the blonder, whiter characters onscreen to “overcome” as they replace her in the spotlight?Make no mistake: Maddy was a foil.In a show built around characters who fought to obscure nearly every facet of their true inner lives, Maddy was refreshingly, sometimes brutally herself.
Who can forget the moment she slow-clapped her way to infamy in Season 1, parting a carnival crowd in her purple I.AM.GIA set as she announced to her boyfriend’s parents, “I’m not supposed to be here right now, because I’m dressed like a hooker, and none of you like me.”In less capable hands, her bitchiness, her vanity, her vindictiveness would have made her one-dimensional.But Demie made her something more, imbuing Maddy with a kind of gravity and depth that made her as infuriating to watch as she was exciting.
Through her, Maddy personified a new kind of Latina baddie — one who defied constraints, and carried herself with a confidence that asked the rest of the world to meet her on her terms.As the show’s narrator, Rue Bennett (Ze...