Children's film 'Rio' from a black perspective

For those who continue to insist that colour doesn't matter - and by strong implication, those who say it does are just troublemakers - it may be worth referring to the following analysis of the recent animated film 'Rio'.  It is taken from the newletter of 'Black History Walks' - you can sign up http://www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk/

 Rio 3D from a black perspective

At an average price of £9 for adults and £7 for kids. Parents had an expensive day out. Rio was one of the top ten box films recently but what of the black image in this blockbuster movie?

Set in Brazil a country which holds the biggest black population outside of Africa (only Nigeria has more African people), were there black people in the movie and how > > were they portrayed?

The human white American male and a white Brazilian female form a loving couple. The human thief is portrayed as a black boy who lives in a shack. The thief is however later adopted by the loving white couple after he changes his ways.  The criminal gang who kidnap Blu are composed of one white Brazilian and two black Brazilians males (black women are absent from this movie) the black Brazilians are particularly noticeable because it is so rare to see black characters in animation on the big screen. These characters are naughty/ bad as well as stupid.

Three of the supporting animal characters are played by black actors Jamie Foxx, Tracey Morgan and Will.I.Am. Their accents and terminology are identifiably African American although they play Brazilian birds and dogs. The toe-tapping music is undeniably African as it was composed by Will I Am using traditional African-Brazilian beats and musicians.

Then there are the monkeys...the monkeys are another set of bad characters  who work with the kidnappers. They wear lots of jewellery, oversized  watches and could be said to be 'blinging'. The first time we see them  they are 'break-dancing' on the street. They are doing acrobatics and handstands to funky music. The monkeys are also thieves and have a gang.  Anyone who has ever visited Rio will know that it is a daily occurrence to  see groups of young men on the street with a Berimbau practising the unique form of martial arts/dance /acrobatics known as Capoeira . This is a traditional African cultural practice that was used by Africans to resist European slavers. It was banned in Brazil up to the 1970's. These groups are normally young black men. ..

All of this can be dismissed as 'just several of those things' but in summary.. all the white humans have positive characteristics while all the black humans have negative characteristics, apart from the black boy who  is originally a thief but later becomes part of a white family. An African-Brazilian art form which signified African resistance is used by a gang of criminal monkeys as recreation when they are not being an anti-social nuisance. A film set in a country where the majority of the people are black does not have a single black human character in a starring role and black women don’t exist.

These images/stories as defined by white animators can have a huge impact of the minds of black and white people especially children.  African-American playwright Augustus Wilson replied when asked why is there a need for black people to tell stories from their perspective  -"Self-definition is the first step to self-determination".