Latin Baby ~ Disney’s Latin America Films

Well, I was actually surprised to learn that José (Zé) Carioca actually has a huge fanbase in Brazil, with his own radio dramas, comic series, etc. At one point artists actually substituted him into Mickey comics! He has friends, enemies, and a girlfriend (Rosinha) in these comics. This site has all you ever wanted to know about the comics, and this site has a lot of the covers of the Brazilian Zé comics.

I always assumed he was a little stereotypical and maybe offensive to Brazilians…I mean come on, he’s basically a cigar-smoking playboy >: ) Then again, I really don’t know that much about Brazil or Brazilians.

**7/16/07** I located comments on Youtube from Brazilians saying that while he represents a much older Brazil, he exemplifies its “fun-loving spirit.”**

On the contrary, the comic book Zé Carioca is the same to some extent, and apparently there exists a fictional organization in the comic book world called the “Zé Carioca owes me money” organization or something like that.

**update 10/10/07: The name of the above organization is “ANACOZECA”

Panchito is stereotypical in a sense, but I don’t really see anyone taking huge offense… I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have a huge following in Mexico, even though “The 3 Caballeros” was well-received there.

I’m curious as to what the “bird” mascot for Disney’s scrapped Cuba latin america film would’ve looked like. The image that immediately comes to my mind is a parrot with a cigar and a Ché Guevara hat, :P but of course this movie was conceived long before Cuba’s revolution.