He wants viewers to say “That’s just like my abuela!” -- and not “I’ve never heard a Latino say that before.”
Disney DIS, +0.53% prompted outrage in 2013 after attempting to trademark the phrase “Día de Los Muertos” — the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead — for what would eventually become its Oscar-winning animated film “Coco.” Alcaraz, a writer, producer and nationally syndicated cartoonist, voiced his dissent in a cartoon depicting Mickey Mouse as a skeletal “Muerto Mouse” on a rampage. “It’s coming to trademark your cultura!” the illustration blared.
Alcaraz, who grew up in San Diego as the son of two Mexican immigrants, says he wants “Casagrandes” viewers from multigenerational Latino families to see stories that reflect their lives — reacting along the lines of “That’s just like my abuela!” rather than “I’ve never heard a Latino say that before,” he said.
“Initially in the writer’s room we were shy about introducing it, thinking it might not be approved of by standards and practices, but the storyboard artists took the initiative and put a chancla in an episode,” Alcaraz said. Its addition proved “hilarious, authentic and traumatizing” for some show staff who came from Mexican and Latino upbringings, he said.
When the topic of Ronnie Anne’s father arose, Alcaraz said he “insisted that he be a professional.” The character, who would eventually be voiced by the prolific Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez, was written as a physician who lives and works in Peru. “That’s a win for me, in my book,” Alcaraz said. The hiring of cultural or diversity consultants on such projects has become a growing trend, said Rashad Robinson, president of the racial-justice organization Color of Change, which has provided pro-bono cultural consulting for shows including “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Being Mary Jane” and “Seven Seconds.” “More and more, consumers of color and white consumers want to see full, accurate portrayals of the world that we live in,” Robinson told MarketWatch.
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