Almost anyone who hopes to learn something about history from the cartoons coming out of Hollywood is going to be disappointed. We saw it with Greek people throwing tomatoes at Hercules, we saw it with Anastasia totally twisting around the story of the imperial Russian family, so why should we expect anything different with The Road to El Dorado? Although the movie opened to mostly lukewarm reviews, it inspired boycotts and protests by several Chicano and indigenous activist groups who claimed the movie was racist.
To give the studios credit, they did at least try this time. They cast prominent Latino actors in the roles of the indigenous people, They portrayed conquistador Cortez, the only historical character in the movie, as a hulking, evil villain. The two Spaniard protagonists are portrayed as a bunch of buffoons who at first are in it for the gold but end up sacrificing it to save the village from the Spanish soldiers. They combined aspects of several indigenous Mexican cultures--the ball games, the detailed pyramids, the Toltec statues-- and used it to create the fabled city of El Dorado. According to a March Hispanic Magazine article, the designers traveled to archaeological sites such as the Mayan cities of Uxmal and Chitzen Itza and hired cultural specialists to make sure that details such as costumes and tools would be accurate.
With this attention to detail, it is hard to understand why the studios responded the way they did to the protesters. In a statement, a Dreamworks spokesperson claimed that there was 'no intention to present "The Road to El Dorado'' as based on historical fact. It's a complete fantasy fairy tale and has no political overtones of any kind.'' In a time in which even deciding who to cast in a role can have a lot of political overtones, veteran Chicano actor Edward James Olmos who played the chief, said in the Hispanic article "Dreamworks has really gone the extra mile to bring us into a strong understanding of the twenty-first century. "
The problem is that there are so few positive depictions of Latinos in film today that whenever one does come out, it is usually put through extra scrutiny by certain segments of the Latino community. In this case, we are dealing with misrepresentation of history which is always a tricky situation.
The main points that people seem most upset about are: 1) Allegations of human sacrifice, which was performed by a few indigenous Mexican tribes even though protesters claim it has never been proven 2) Scenario of natives worshipping white men as gods--this one was definitely a stretch but partially taken from the legend that Moctezuma initially welcomed Cortes as the return of Quetzacóatl. It was also reminiscent of the eclipse in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court; in both cases the characters just happen to be in the right place at the time of a natural disaster so they can claim magical powers. In the movie,the high priest and the chief catch on pretty quickly, so were not stupid or ignorant as the protesters claim. 3)the "Chel" character: played by Rosie Perez with a New York accent and attitude, she's the only female character which is probably why her overt sensuality was considered so offensive to some; it's definitely what earned this movie its PG rating.
When all is said and done, the best thing that can be said about these movies is that they encourage people to find out what really happen. After "Prince of Egypt" came out, I propped open my Bible to read the story of Exodus and found that although they had changed some details such as Moses' age, they actually did a good job. Hearing about the protest caused me to call up my aunt in Mexico and ask her about some of the history of the pre-Columbian tribes. I hope that people will do the same for this movie and take the time to tell their children what really happened.
Food for Thought What would have happened if instead of inflicting indigenous peoples with disease,slavery and massacre, the Spaniards had coexisted peacefully with the natives from the beginning? Orson Scott Card's Pastwatch:The Redemption of Christopher Columbus has a group of visitors from the twenty-third century coming back to change the past, preparing the indigenous people for Columbus' coming while imbuing Columbus with the true spirit of Christianity so he could view the natives as children of God rather than savages. Card did his homework and has a compelling story which both history and science fiction fans should enjoy.
