The Three Caballeros (1944)

The Three Caballeros is a Disney production that was made in 1944. This cartoon features three personified birds from three varying locations across the Americas. The film explores the western hemisphere and what it has to offer. At first glance, the film seems like a nonsensical and confusing cartoon, but when studied closer, this film reveals a lot about the relationship between the United States and Latin America during the mid 20th century.

The film is divided into seven different segments. The first couple of segments are educational reels that help teach about the different, if somewhat stereotypical, aspects of Latin American culture.  The first segment is entitled "The Cold-Blooded Penguin." This story follows Pablo the Penguin and his trip from the Antarctic to the tropical, warm Galapagos Islands. The second part is called "The Flying Gauchito."  This tells the story of a little Uruguayan cowboy and his winged donkey named Burrito. The next segment, "Baia," includes a long song and dance routine that takes place in Brazil.  It is here that we see the mood change. The film changes from education to promotional.  Luring Americans, namely men, to this land of beautiful women. Aurora Miranda sings a long song while Donald falls in love.  At the end of this scene, he receives a kiss from the singer. After this comes "Las Posadas," switching the theme back to educational. This part of the film explains the tradition where Mexican children reenact the journey of Mary and Joseph during Christmastime. Here we also get an explanation of pinadas.

The final segments place even greater emphasis on the beautiful women that can be found in South America. The movie becomes surprisingly sexual for a children's cartoon, almost inappropriate at times. These segments include "Mexico: Patzcuaro, Veracruz, Acapulco," "You Belong to My Heart," and "Donald's Surreal Reverie."  The Mexico segment is a long segment that has Donald and Jose touring Mexico on a flying sarape. They stop to see some traditional Mexican dances.  They next visit a beach full of pretty ladies wearing two-piece swimsuits. Donald is smitten and tries chasing the women down in order to kiss them but fails every time.  In "You Belong to My Heart" features singer Dora Luz performing the title song and Donald falls in love with her as well. The final segment is a long scene full of wackiness and, of course, women. The entire ending is a crazy mesh of special effects.  It includes dancing women; random Latin American elements, such as cacti and flags; and fireworks and explosions

I believe this film is setting out to serve a couple of different purposes. The first purpose is showcasing Disney's animating abilities and advancements. The first purpose serves to explain all of the bright colors and the dizzying, random cartoon sequences that don't really seem to fit. The combination of animation and live-action was quite the feat at this time and Disney packed "The Three Caballeros" full of it. The second message they are trying to convey is an underlying message of neocolonialism. During the beginning of the 20th century, the U.S. held a sort of neocolonial power of Latin America through capitalist investments. I think this film helped to reinforce these ideas.

I would say the promotion of education and travel can also be seen in the film. The film was very informative at times and presented an array of interesting and accurate facts in way that would easily catch the attention of children. It encouraged tourism to South America by enticing people with scenes of tropical beaches, beautiful women, and unique cultures.

The film also supports the idea of "machismo."  Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes "machismo" as an attitude, quality, or way of behaving that agrees with traditional ideas about men being very strong and aggressive. The idea of "machismo" is often associated with Latin American culture.  Interestingly enough, the two Latino characters, Panchito and Jose Carioca, are not the ones displaying this attitude. It is Donald Duck, the American bird.

This cartoon is a highly romanticized and exotic depiction of life south of the United States. I wouldn't necessarily consider this film to be very successful. I guess this could be considered a successful film in the terms that the creators accomplished getting their message of neocolonialism across. However, I personally found this cartoon too strange for my taste. At first glance, you don't even realize the deeper messages. It just comes across as a random, sometimes creepy children's cartoon.