this exoticism is tamed and made familiar as it is animated and integrated into Disney’s own prexisting narratives and cast of cartoon characters. For the wildlife are, equally, discussed as though they were candidates in a Hollywood screen test: Disney is searching for characters who can dance, play, sing, and interact with his established (and trademark) stars of Pluto, Donald, and so on.
Jon at the Latin American On Screen blog has posted his look at Saludos Amigos. This was one of my favorite Disney films growing up. The music, colors, and exotic locations made my mind whirl with possibilities. It turns out to be a propaganda piece paid for by a latin american lobbyist group. So much for my childhood.
Previous post on Three Caballeros.
[tags: disney, animation, latin+america, saludos+amigos, walt+disney ]
Ha! It very definitely was a propaganda piece, sponsored directly by Nelson Rockefeller’s Office for Inter-American Affairs, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be good… Myself, I love the last sequence, “Aquarela do Brasil,” with Donald and Jose Carioca strolling through a fantastic Brazilian landscape as it is painted, literally dripping from the artist’s brush.
Oh, and one more thing… It’s worth underlining that the Office for Inter-American Affairs wasn’t “a Latin American lobbyist group,” but an agency set up by the US government.
Meanwhile, I hope that your childhood wasn’t similarly enchanted by Herbie Goes Bananas, which I’ve just discussed here: http://screened.blogspot.com/2005/10/herbie-goes-bananas.html.
(As it happens, I think that one of the very first films I ever saw at the cinema was a Herbie film, though I’m not sure now if it would have been Herbie Rides Again or Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo.)
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