Cartoons- Maya and Miguel

While watching the 90 minutes of cartoons, I watched an episode of Maya and Miguel called “Suerte” which means luck in Spanish. Throughout the episode viewers are shown incidents that happen to the characters that are considered to be bad luck in the US. Breakfast burns, the power goes out, Maya and Miguel get covered in food, and Mama drops her bug bag of groceries. We are shown that problems like these, though they aren’t a huge issue, are considered bad luck and looked upon unfavorably in society.
Cultural awareness is also very prevalent in this show. Maya and Miguel have a very diverse group of friends. Maggie is Chinese-American, Theo is African-American, Chrissie is Dominican-American, Andy is English-American and only has one arm, and the twins themselves are Mexican and Puerto Rican-American. Several global concepts are mentioned, such as Fung Shui by Maggie and though it wasn’t expected that everyone would recognize the idea, Maggie explained it so that both the “characters” and viewers would be enlightened on the topic. Many characters also speak both in Spanish and English, particularly Abuela, who teaches Maya and Miguel lessons about their culture. It is clear that the producers of the show believe that the importance of being bilingual should be instilled in viewers.
However, despite the many positive aspects to the show and the lessons it teaches about other cultures, there are still some prominent stereotypes. Mama is expected to make breakfast for her family and the family has a pet parrot known as Paco (Taco). Maggie (Chinese-American) is the shortest of her friends and has a very soft-spoken mother, who lives with her and the rest of her family in a typically East-Asian decorated home. There is also the stereotype of Maya and Miguel’s father playing a mariachi band like guitar and them both playing soccer, when soccer is such a prominent sport in Hispanic culture. While preparing for Fung Shui, the girls made Miguel and their cousin Tito, both boys, do all the moving of the furniture while they were directing. This could imply that though the girls had the ideas, they weren’t able to follow through on the physical aspect.
Overall I observed that this show does a lot to encompass many different cultures and backgrounds. It also strives to teach viewers the importance of knowing a second language and provide information on many different topics and aspects of cultures around the world. Though the majority of the show works in not becoming biased or insensitive, some typical underlying expectations remain, which from my other viewings is prominent in almost any show on TV.