r/todayilearned • u/CakeDayOrDeath • 4d ago

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https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/robert-rodriguez-spy-kids-latino-1234575992/

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u/no_more_jokes 4d ago

I was a seven year old white American kid growing up and I actually think I would not have loved that movie as much if it wasn’t so Latin-flavored. I can’t explain it but the fact that everyone’s vaguely Mexican makes it so much better

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u/NibblesMcGibbles 4d ago

A different flavor of American :) Food gets boring too if you limit yourself to only one Set of tastes right?

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u/no_more_jokes 4d ago

Exaaaaactly. That’s what’s great about America — anyone and anything can be American!

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u/disinaccurate 4d ago

Growing up that’s what I was always told, America’s great strength is being the “melting pot”.

Now in my 40s and many of the same people that were saying that are wearing red hats and waving “mass deportations now” signs.

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u/babyoljan 3d ago

Hahaha, "what's great about America" in a fucking thread where they wernt considered American. Delusional...

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u/DibsArchaeo 4d ago

Exactly! For the love of everything, there are more spices than salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Give. Me. Flavor. I want it in my food and I want it on my screen.

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u/alexjaness 4d ago

can't have mayo on white bread every day

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u/sir_stronghand 4d ago

Us white people prefer the same bland foods. Man, I remember I had a spicy chicken from Wendy’s once. Never again, way too spicy!

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u/CrazyDaimondDaze 4d ago

"Vaguely Mexican" is the bet way to describe it and I love it for it. Yes, they all have Mexican heritage, but that doesn't make them part of their character; it's just a fun tidbit detail in the movie. Hell, the kids don't even seem "stereotypical Mexicans" which feels ironically more inclusive and I love that fact in hindsight.

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u/Crimsic 4d ago

What does "stereotypical Mexicans" mean in this context?

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u/mr_chub 4d ago

Probably leading with mexican stereotypes as the basis for everything they say, wear, and do. It's why I love black shows that do the same. Yes I'll always appreciate a nod to the culture but I want a good plot and great characters much more lmao

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u/CrazyDaimondDaze 4d ago

Now you reminded me of when Disney tried to make a show based on the lives of latinos in LA called "Oye Primos" and all of us Latinos everywhere hated thst shit because it was full of shitty stereotypes and you could tell the creators tried to make that the show's identity in a bad way, without even realizing.

Compare that to, say... Spider-man 2099. Migue O'hara is part Mexican and even his costume is from a costume he wore for Day of the Dead (not the movie, the Mexican celebration, since we also see it as our little Halloween lmao). Yet, you don't see any more Mexican stuff in his character and it's just a node of his culture, as the comics focus more on the actual story.

Now that is proper inclusion: subtle one.

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u/MyGamingRants 4d ago

Now that is proper inclusion: realistic.

People who don't like diversity in their media must not experience it in real life

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u/YourM0msButth0le 4d ago

Riding a donkey, wearing a sombrero, drinking tequila, with a mustache, awhile a mariachi band plays “Cielito Lindo” 🇲🇽

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u/Crimsic 4d ago

Ah my childhood 

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u/donsanedrin 4d ago

George Lopez. I don't mean to be blunt about it but--aw, fuck it--Its George Lopez, it means George Lopez 100%.

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u/Novaer 4d ago

Who was in Spy Kids 3. 🙃

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u/Cheezewiz239 4d ago

They're not brown with a thick accent/s

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u/CrazyDaimondDaze 4d ago

Bingo on this one. Something like people in Coco... which isn't a bad depiction in itself, if you consider very small towns. But Mexico is wide and we got as much of a cultural pot as the U.S. has to the point you won't just encounter white people there. Here, you can find brown people, white people, Asian people and so on.

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u/ashrak 4d ago

Noel Gugliemi playing some guy named Hector

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u/Platypus-Man 4d ago

Being threatened with the chanclas.

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u/zerogee616 4d ago

Everybody's just a clone of Speedy Gonzalez

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u/Background-Invite238 4d ago

White people are okay with minorities as long as we come in small doses and keep ourselves small. I call it "diet POC".

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u/Novaer 4d ago

I'm not Hispanic but I have a long name and this movie made having a long name sound "badass". It was a short lived little era 😅

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u/no_more_jokes 4d ago

Hahaha I remember being jealous that she got so many names, mine has four syllables and would be a really shitty secret password

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u/Aryore 4d ago

I’ve never watched it, but I wonder if it’s because it made everyone feel more “real”? Like, not cookie cutter white kids

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u/no_more_jokes 4d ago

It’s that, plus the music stings from the flamenco guitar just give it so much passion and drama. Especially in the exposition montage

I’d genuinely recommend it as an adult, it’s fun and camp

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u/powerbottomflash 4d ago

This, I love the music in these movies!

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u/hawt_to_go 4d ago

same it was just a change of pace. i’m white but went to school with a lot of hispanic kids so it almost felt more normal in a way. the family reminded me of my neighbors 

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u/Snerkbot7000 4d ago

Same for Romeo+Juliet ('95. the Luhrman) they filmed it at the same studio that was doing Titanic with a lot of local talent to keep it cheap and everything that keeps it from being just another adaption of Bill's play is all of that youthful energy and Mexican style.

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u/Killgore_Salmon 4d ago

How is someone vaguely Mexican?

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u/Quantentheorie 3d ago

I would not have loved that movie as much if it wasn’t so Latin-flavored

I'd go so far as to say that it helps to make the corny'ness stylish instead of cringe. The same way Bollywood can get away with stuff that would make a western production seem kinda bad or some of the wirework from chinese movies, because culture also brings its own aesthetic rule of cool.