This week looked at start of the 20th century within the time of the cold war but also within that time period, it looked into the way Latin America is portrayed within propaganda and media. Focusing on Ariel Dorfman’s ” How to Read Donald Duck” he explained how such cartoon implement the American Imperial Project. I wanted to focus on this for this blog post as it really shocked me how after being explained the portrayal of Latin America within media.
As a kid, I was a fan of Disney. Donald Duck was always funny to watch. However, during class as we observed Donald Duck as he learned about South America, it became more uncomfortable to watch than amusing. For example, as Donald Duck was learning about the different countries in Latin America like Brazil, the character that came from that region had a huge emphasis on the stereotype of the country, from the way he talked, and the way he behaved or when Donald met his friend from Mexico, you were presented with the big “sombreros.” As kids, we don’t know any better, we just see a new character on the screen and find the entertainment within the show, but as you grow older you see how even in such innocent concepts like a Disney character, there contains so much content on how different regions around the world are represented that really impacts the way people see the world.
It happened the same to me, I felt the cartoon was reinforcing the stereotypes of Latin American people. I am not sure if a noth american author could portrait Latin America without stereotypes for children. It is really good that we notice it now, and we can understand that latin america is much more diverse, but i also think that the image that kids grow with is not the most adequate. There is always the chance that children never change their perspective, and just never get to learn more about Latin America.