Tiko the Squirrel: Arboral Innocent or Indigenous Revolutionary?
Abstract: Dora the Explorer’s furry companion Tiko the Squirrel seems no more than a lovable addition to the show’s regular cast of characters. But does his Spanish-only linguistic stance and his distinctive indigenous outfit reveal a deeper anti-Imperialist agenda? Special attention is given to his place of residence: the “nut farm.” Comparisons will be drawn between this utopian agrarian collective patrolled by ominously uniformed ‘public saftey” officers holding signs of “rojo” and “verde” and Stalinist agricultural ventures. The paper will end with speculation concerning the identity of the anonymous donor who purported gave several thousand pounds of nuts to the government of Hugo Chavez.
;-)
That’s hilarious….
Well, looks like we’ve moved on from Tinky Winky, finally, and those pinko subversives Bert and Ernie. Hoover probably had them under surveillance too–threw everyone off his own, ummm, interests {cough} clyde {cough}. Looks like the Care Bears are making a comeback though. What’s with that rainbow-wearing Cheer bear anyway?
I think Tiko is the noble savage, who exists in a primitive Spanish speaking state and in native garb. He is surrounded by an array of cousins–unspecified relationship that suggest the close community of the idyllic pre-modern village. Though he is idealized, this is not in fact a positive portrayal as Tiko’s only function in the broader literary literary framework of Dora the Explorer is in relationship to the dominant English speaking population.
When you look at it that way, Tiko is kinda the subaltern.
I finished grad school in 1979 but reading your abstract made it seem like yesterday. Sigh.
On the other hand — did you read of the fatal attack on a dog by a group of black squirrels in a park in Lazo, Russia? Ya gotta take squirrels seriously!
I am afraid the Journal has rejected your submission to make room for my own groundbreaking essay on the Wiggles’ World as a Deleuzian “body without organs,” and Captain Feathersword as an embodiment of Hakim Bey’s theory of the “pirate utopia.” What really grabbed their attention was my technique of breaking into sentences with the phrase “WAKE UP JEFF,” deployed as a Brechtian “alienation effect.”