"Not only does this film anthropomorphize Chihuahuas and equate them to Mexican people (at least the brown ones)"

Ya, that a-hole gustavo arellano will really love this movie.

Alisa,

If you son is looking for a dog may I suggest a Xolo?

Anyway, about the trailer...

This is not Hollywood movie. Adults can understand the the stereotypes. But this is intended to do what to kids? What will children walk away thinking when this movie is over?

Also, what worries me is that there is still a market for movies like these in Anglo-American culture. They just cant seem to advance intellectually.

This cartoon will, no doubt, hurt Meso-American children. Their self esteems, what's left of it, will need to get over yet another humiliating experience in their lives. Although they have experience at this.

These are similar to the things I had to deal with when I was a kid. But those were mostly television commercials like the Frito Bandito etc., etc., etc.

George Lopez, should've told Disney where to put this movie. As for Hayek, people who call her a Malinche are mistaken for she would need to be a REAL Mexican for that label to stick. Which she IS NOT.

She was born in MX but she represents the interloping money whore that has plagued Mexican Tv and is now moving north.

"IndecisiveJake" had this to say:

I want to hear an 8 year walk out of the movie and point out these things to their parents. There is no reason to hide truth in history from our children. Disney wouldn't have the power or the market share to do this if our children knew better.

(Would Shoji Tabuchi's in particular come to mind?)

====================

"Don't read the headlines--read The Exaggerator: Smartness, with just a hint of pretension."

Disney has a history of this... so it doesn't surprise me in the least. The worst thing about Chihuahuas is that they are all bark and no bite. Seriously, if we were going to be a "dog," can we at least be one that is more dignified? Chihuahuas are like rodents on crack.

And to follow up w/ your post re: our leadership. I have said it over and over again... our leadership is lacking. Shame on Salma Hayek and George Lopez for participating in this.

It seems that there is a fine line between being satirical and saying something or acting in a way that perpetuates stereotypes within our communities. One of my latest posts re: 5 de Mayo and the alcohol industry tackles this issue as well.

Someone had to make the Taco Bell Dog 2: The movie. Disney will make a movie about anything that sells. Disney is part of that bigger happy family that bring us all this crap.

This why it's important to teach children critical thinking and problem solving skills at younger ages. I want to hear an 8 year walk out of the movie and point out these things to their parents. There is no reason to hide truth in history from our children. Disney wouldn't have the power or the market share to do this if our children knew better.
On the other hand, it is just cute to see a little kid wearing a Hannah Montana wig.

I'm wondering how America would react to a movie filled with African American stereotypes, depicted by, say, Gorillas. I'd imagine Al Sharpton would already be getting arrested for protesting it. Where are "our" leaders? Oh, wait, they're all doing voices for the movie. Sorry. My bad.

Thank you both for your comments.

I just watched the trailer again (call me a masochist) and realized a couple of things. Not only does this film anthropomorphize Chihuahuas and equate them to Mexican people (at least the brown ones), the trailer is set to a mambo (culturally inappropriate for Mexico) and the voiceover about "Aztec warriors" is spoken over footage of Machu Pichu (which is in Peru). I guess it's not just Mexicans who get to be dogs owned by the rich and influential; it's all Latin Americans. The ignorance is staggering. That said, the technology used to give the dogs more human expressions is quite remarkable. My seven-year-old son saw the trailer over my shoulder, and giggled. He wants to see the movie, he loves dogs. He doesn't know. And I guess that's the problem right there. This stuff is foisted onto the least suspecting among us, and the messages go deep, and stay there. Reminds me of that horrific movie "The Road to El Dorado" from Steven Spielberg a while back, where the Spanish explorers were presented as a 15th Century version of Bill and Ted on an excellent adventure, and the Mexican women were shown as seductresses. "Gosh, isn't this fun, all these hot-blooded babes..." The truth, however, involved massacres and rapes on the same scale as the German holocaust. Pity Spielberg could paint such beauty in "Schindlers List" then turn around a take a massive crap on the Mexican people and their shared history of near-extermination.

One more thing. One of the reasons that Latino marketers like casting MOS roles (no speaking) in Los Angeles is because "you can cast Italian looking people" to play the roles of Latinos and it's easier to fill the needed roles. They do not even insist that all the people pretending to be Latino are Latino. This is endemic.

I couldn't agree with you more. I also must point out that much of the blame for Latino sterotypes that are perpetuated on television must be also ascribed to the Latino owned Advertising and Marketing industry.

Most children's first impressions of a culture unfortunately come from television these days and commercials, ads, etc. The image sought after by Latino Ad Agencies and Corporate brand managers who are Latino are almost universally what they distustingly call "Pan Latino" This is used in casting specs for commercials, marketing guidelines, etc. They do not want to cast anyone who looks indigenous, they want to cast "predominatly white looking" actors. They will actually say on conference calls when reviewing casting; "too Latino looking". And these are all Latinos saying this.

They rationalize it all by saying that it's an "aspirational" message. I say to deny and try to massage one's culture and appearance into something that it is not, is a big part of the overall problem here.

AND the movie just looks awful.