El Tigre! is a new cartoon on Nick that the kids I b-sit for watch. Normally, I do not watch tv with them, but tonight I decided to check it out. The show uses vintage toon imagery, punctured with a day of the dead motif and showcases an all Latino ensemble cast of voices. The hero is the eight year old son of a retired superhero, who turns hero (El Tigre!) himself. In this episode I learned that El Tigre’s mother left his dad because she was too sensitive when it came to his heroing out on the corner all day.
I thought that the multiculturalism was a good thing. Especially when the characters all have, let’s see, “hood” type personalities. But, see, even writing that demonstrates the racism of the show. The show does not show any diversity with-in Mexican-American culture (although, the girl sidekick does have blue hair). It simply depicts a monolithic culture that is steeped with ghetto and working class stereotypes.
Not to mention, that the mother’s character is a complete wus who is over sensitive and over reactive! After she leaves, she becomes an international mariachi (I kid you not) sensation and returns to praise her son’s super hero work.
While la madre was on tour el tigre has been fighting crime by busting characters who just got out of jail and who all–strangely–seem to be fat, lazy Latinos!
So it seems, that multiculturalism for kids may not always be sending the right message–that is it tends to reinforce racist attitudes. Surprise, surprise.
Check out the link at the top of this post for yourselves!
