Media Analysis:Disney’s Bilingual Preschool Television Series Handy Manny

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 34^th Street, and indeed, Disney movies are classics per se. It may not be an exaggeration that many children in the United States grew up with Disney. The universal appeals of Disney programs have not ceased until today. The adult audiences still reconnect to Disney series and the growing children’s childhood is adjoined by Disney. Now, Disney particularly organized a programming called Playhouse, for the preschool audiences. How and why these Disney’s programs attract viewers intrigued me to select Handy Manny to examine for my media analysis. To me, Disney never fails to impress their viewers. Especially, Handy Manny’s engagingness with Latin culture and Latino/a characters posed interesting insights into the new generations of Disney characters. In this analysis, I will substantially assess the functions of Spanish accents in the episodes and the intended viewers of the show.

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 7:30/6:30c. 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, with a strong Spanish accent. On the other hand, in Handy Manny, Valderrama lowered the tone of his voice and softened his accents. He does not sound like a stereotypical Latino Buffon in Handy Manny; instead, his solid voice portrays him as a diligent and credible man in the town. Manny teaches his tools Spanish words on the shows. For instance, in the Flicker Saves Christmas episode, Manny particularly emphasized Christmas related Spanish vocabularies. Pat, the hammer, did not understand what Manny has said: "Let's decorate arbole de Navidad." Manny kindly translates his Spanish into English, “Christmas tree,” for Pat to comprehend. This markedly demonstrated that Manny has knowledge of Spanish and Pat is a non-Spanish speaking character. (Flicker Saves Christmas -18:20)

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 voice actress named Shelly Morrison who features Mrs. Portillo. Except for Alazraqui, Morrison and Valderrama other characters from Handy Manny are played by non-Latino/as, mainly White Americans.

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. (Manny to the Rescue:-06:08)

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. born Latino/a children. The frequent highlights on Spanish language within Handy Manny may have encouraged Latino/a parents to allow their children to watch the show. Handy Manny can provide cultural role models for the U.S. born Latino/a children who are exposed to both American and Latin culture. For example, in the Light Work episode, Mrs. Portillo decorated her bakery with the Mexican paper flowers. She learned how to make the Mexican paper flowers from her aunt who lived in Oaxaca, Mexico. Mexican paper flowers scene delivered a sense of welcoming of the Mexican traditions; the tools admired the beauty of the Mexican paper flowers. Mrs. Portillo, a grandmother-like figure, sharing her culture with the tools, in this case, her grandchildren, functioned as the visual culture guide for Latino/as children in the U.S. For parents, the program supposedly substitutes a role of parents as heritage teachers by providing the cultural narratives.  (Light Work:-07:07)

Besides the U.S. born Latino/as, I believe that Handy Manny also appeals to any preschoolers in English speaking countries. According to my research on the official website, the program suddenly becomes less ethnic so to speak. It is culturally ambiguous; a lack of association with Spanish language in the contents of the website was prominent. Among four tabs on the website: Game, Stories, Music and Activities, I chiefly examined Stories and Music. I have specifically chosen these two parts because I believe that these two sections had greater relations to language and culture compare to other two sections of the website. First, the story, “A Day at the Park” had the subtitles in English; there were no Spanish included in the narration. The story was organized with the small activities such as counting and matching objects. This story especially highlighted the lesson of how to behave in a situation where you're lost. The narrators, Stretcher and Dusty, repeated instructions reinforcing how to act when you're lost. Despite my expectations, the story solely consisted of behavioral guidelines.

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. population; Latino/a children composed 20% of the population. Latino/as in the U.S. have risen as the dominant non-white groups. Their rising status has definitely shifted some of the perspectives in the media. One of the examples is the politicians’ use of bilingual television networks to execute campaign strategies. In the recent election, politicians made appearances on Telemundo and Univision.(Article on Latino/as political influence) In addition, Handy Manny further reflects these occurring changes in America. Spanish almost becoming the second-language in the U.S., the bilingual television series suggested interesting insights. As if it is claiming that English still is the predominant language in America, the show mainly is in English with modest Spanish. Some characters have accents when speaking in English. The degree of accents varies among generations; the younger the Latino/a character is the lighter the accents are. The voices of Latino/a characters are played by the U.S. born Latino/a actors. Their career heavily depended on portraying Latino/a roles. In addition to Spanish, the program illustrates the celebrations of Latin cultures. Despite of its bilingual features on the show, the website does not reflect bilingual perspectives as much as I have contemplated. Instead, the emphasis is on the moral lessons for children. This allows the show to expand its range of audience to general English speaking children rather than focusing on a specific group.

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. It describes Latin cultures to be attractive and desirable to be connected with. Manny and the tools are the “good” characters helping out their neighbors; the community is filled with bliss. In the beginning I have inquired the reason for Disney’s wide appeals. Can Handy Manny become modern day classics? Manny and the tools plausibly deliver the common elements such as morality that Latino/as share with the U.S. viewers. Handy Manny reiterates the universal values in other Disney’s classics to extend its legacy.