“Cousins”, the latest animated series Disneywas listed as “racist” and “full of stereotypes” by the Mexican public and other Latin American countries. The audiovisual, which was created by the American artist Natasha Kline, was announced during the Annecy Animated Film Festivalin France, one of the most important events for this genre.
The American company published a video on its different social networks with the introduction with which the series is introduced. Although with the criticism they received and the outrage of consumers, the producers were forced to withdraw the material, that lasts for one minute, of its different platforms.
The controversy began over the name of the neighborhood in which the protagonist, Tater, lives. “Earthquake Heights”it is called, for what several considered that it is a “mockery” towards the country and the sudden movements of the earth that are common in this territory, and that on different occasions caused damage and deaths of thousands of people.
Another criticism of the series is the portrayal of Latino families living in the US. The public criticized the scene where there are dozens of people living in a dirty place and under the same roof.
“Cousins”, the new Disney animated series
Natasha Kline, who also has professional experience in programs such as South Park or The Green Neighbors, spoke out in anger and assured that the inspiration to create the piece came from her childhood experiences and the culture of her Mexican-American family, which includes his 28 cousins.
“It is set [la serie] of my childhood summers spent with my cousins under one roof, and the comedy that is born from that wonderfully hectic setting. As a child, I didn’t see myself or my culture represented on screen, so I’m excited to share my family dynamic through these new Disney characters and stories,” said Klein, also an illustrator.
One of her favorite parts of developing the series, says the creator, was talking with her family about her childhood, discovering things she had forgotten or experiencing them in a different way. “Everything in Primos refers to that lens through which I look at my life, the authenticity, the experience I had growing up, the people who surrounded me, the language they spoke, the food, how I felt growing up. I used that for my own creative process,” she explained.
Anger in social networks
“Hey, cousins,” is repeated for several seconds in the introduction that has gone viral in recent hours. Many users were outraged by the wrong conjugation in Spanish, since the correct way to say it would be “hey cousins” or “hey cousin”, as they explained in different tweets.
For her part, Myrna Velascoo, who voices the protagonist of the series, defended herself by saying: “Spanish is not Latin American, it is a language that the Spanish conquistadors forced on Latin Americans. The only reason we are Latinos and non-Native Americans is for that distinction. Get mad at me all you want for my misspellings and mispronouncing Spanish words. That doesn’t take away from the fact that I’m a Mexican-American and Native-American woman.”
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
