Journal Entry #1A

The character Speedy, to me, meant waking up early in the morning as a kid and turning on the television to watch cartoons with my brother. It meant that I would see a representation of something that made sense to me, something I felt I could relate to, unlike watching the Disney channel and seeing princesses that did not pertain to me. I must admit that I had never before thought about the cartoon as mocking the Mexican community. As a child I merely enjoyed the cartoon for what it was, not realizing the serious depth behind his outfit, language, accent and how this all plays a large role in encouraging problematic ideas and stereotypes. After reading the articles and processing the information I became a lot more conscious of all the existing stereotypes and realized how vital it is that Mexicans not be portrayed in a stereotypic way through media; as it might be the only interpretation that some people might get about the ethnicity and therefore, leading them to think that all Mexicans share those characteristics. In the“Speedy Gonzales Caged by Cartoon Network” article, it states“ it’s just speedy Gonzales” when reasoning for all the negative aspects many people had pointed out. Because the cartoon had overtly offensive content this led the cartoon to be taken off the air. The subliminal message that these episodes were  giving to children, especially  for Mexican children, was that it was “okay” for their ethnicity to be mocked. I for one can completely relate to this, as I conjured memories of appreciation that my people were even mentioned.