Latino stereotype in drawn media-Speedy Gonzales

       

       Speedy Gonzales is an animated caricature of a mouse in the Warner Brother Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fast and speaking with an exaggerated Mexican accent.

     

     There has been a huge dispute in the last few years about the legitimacy of Speedy Gonzales, a popular cartoon character from the 1950s. He first came onto our television screens in 1953 but he was taken off air in 1999 by the Cartoon Network for perpetuating stereotypes about Mexicans.

    Most of opponents to his removal come from Hispanics themselves. They find him to be a hero and to hold many positive qualities, some Hispanic viewers said that, “He is intelligent, he has a strong sense of justice, he is very good at what he does, and he has a healthy sense of humor” But with negative images, like Speedy’s lazy cousin, Slowpoke Rodriguez, and other illustrations of smoking and drinking.

      Speedy Gonzales has stirred much controversy but the real question comes from the disparity between Latinos in this country. Viewers in Mexico love Speedy and what he stands for. They triumph this cartoon as a hero to the Mexican people.  But there are other implications with Speedy’s depiction that can also be taken offensively, such as the stereotype that all Mexicans wear sombreros, have an accent, have lazy relatives, and are always up against white people.

    Can Latinos have a hero in the media without some of the basic racial notions of what it means to be Latino? The question then comes to who is most important to please, Latinos or non-Latinos? Maybe, any image in the media, in our society, will draw on some stereotypes regardless.

   Reference:
   1. FoxNews, . "Speedy Gonzales Caged by Cartoon Network." FoxNews.com. (2002): n. page. Web. 16 Feb. 2012. <http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,48872,00.html>.
  
  2. Toonopedia, . "Speedy Gonzales." Don Markstein's Toonopedia™. n. page. Web. 16 Feb. 2012. <http://www.toonopedia.com/speedyg.htm>.