As the Christmas approaches, we often look for good Christmas movies. Some of the films such as A Charlie Brown Christmas, Home Alone series, Miracles on 34th Street, and indeed, Disney movies are classics per se. It may not be an exaggeration that many children in the United States
To briefly introduce Handy Manny show, Handy Manny is an animated preschool children's television series. The program is directed by Tom Bastein. It airs on weekday mornings at /c. Handy Manny describes the adventures of Manny Garcia, a bilingual Hispanic handyman, presumably a Mexican American based on the presentations of Mexican cultures in the program, and his eight anthropomorphic tools. Manny and the tools primarily speak in English; nonetheless, they speak words or short sentences in Spanish. The motto of the Handy Manny’s repair shop is “You break it, We fix it!” The episode usually revolves around Manny and his tools assisting their neighbors. The episode not only educates Spanish language but also includes moral lessons for the children viewers.
Employing the simple Spanish in the show was the one of the essential aspects that I have noticed. In this analysis, I will heavily focus on Manny’s accents and its possible functions in the show. Manny, the protagonist, speaks in accented English. Wilmer Valderrama plays the voice of Manny. Valderrama is best known for his act in That's 70s show. He plays a comical foreign exchange student, Fez
Besides Pat, the hammer, all the tools speak both in English and in Spanish; however, Felipe, a yellow screw driver, is the only character among the tools who carries the accents when speaking in English. Felipe is portrayed as a somewhat native Spanish speaker. The voices of Felipe and Abuelito were played by an Argentinean American actor, Carlos Alazraqui. Most of his past roles were Latino characters; nonetheless, he is often praised for his capability of adopting numerous accents. In fact, he is best known for his Scottish accents. In addition to Alazraqui, there was a Latina
Largely, three levels of accents are featured in Handy Manny. First, there are White Americans such as Kelly and Mr. Lopart who speak appropriate American English; they do not carry any conspicuous accents. Next, there are bilingual characters such as Manny, Felipe and Mrs. Portillo. Even though they are fluent in English, their English is accompanied by accents. Lastly, the tools exemplified English speaking characters who are learning Spanish. Manny and the other Latino/a figures as their instructors, the tools study Spanish language.
The majority of the discourse exchanges among these individuals are in English. One of the Latino/a will usually initiate the Spanish or Latin culture related conversations. The characters communicate between different accent groups or even within their own groups. Manny to the Rescue episode, predominantly presented Latino/as: Manny, Señor Sanchez, the Chief Eduardo, and Adrienta. I observed that the principal performance of Latino/as in this particular episode led to the increased conversations in Spanish. For example, Señor Sanchez seemed like a stable elder in the town; he probably owned a house that he resides in. He spoke with heavy accents. Next, the Chief Eduardo was described as a respected fire department chief in the community. Unlike the stereotypical depictions of Latinos, he held an authority in the community. In terms of his accents, he carried accents when speaking in English. Julieta, a young girl, indubitably the granddaughter of Señor Sanchez, did not have accents when she spoke in English. It insinuated that Julieta was capable of comprehending Spanish since she was able to participate in the conversations. The episode exhibited the spectrum of different levels of language acculturation among Latino/a generations in the U.S.
Based on the observations on accents of the characters’ dialogues, I easily assumed that Handy Manny primarily target U.S. born Latino/a viewers; however, after I have explored the number of episodes and the official website, I realized that Handy Manny accommodated broader range of audiences. First, considering that the show is broadcasted via the U.S. based television medium, Playhouse Disney, I supposed that its main audiences encompass the U.S. U.S. Oaxaca , Mexico U.S.
Besides the U.S.
Next, I have listened to “Clang” under the Music tab. The music section on the website considerably seemed to focus on stimulating children's musicality. Clicking on each tools made different sounds. I could play rhythms along the songs or simply just clicked the tools to generate sounds. The background song reminded of Spanish/ Latin songs, yet I could not clearly classify the songs into certain genres. I anticipated hearing guitars, drumbeats and trumpets etc., instruments that invoke “Latiness.” Explicit reminder of Latiness was not found as I have supposed. This might be due to the extension of the stereotypes engraved in my mind. According to my findings in Handy Manny episodes, I presumed to see more Spanish and culture related contents on the website. Nevertheless, the website heavily focuses on stimulating children’s learning ability in various aspects such as organizational skills, musicality, moral conducts, and basic math skills. In other words, the website seeks out for the universal audiences. The implemented activities invite all children to readily engage with Manny and the tools. Official Website
As we have discussed in the lecture, Latino/a populations surpassed 15% of the U.S. U.S. America U.S. America U.S.
Overall, I believe that the positive representations of both Spanish language and the Latin cultures in Handy Manny promote interests in sharing Latin cultures in the U.S. U.S.
