美国国家公共电台 NPR Now Starring In Children's Cartoons: Authentic Indigenous Characters

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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

For decades, animated¹ children's stories included negative stereotypes² of Native peoples, like movies like "Pocahontas" and "Peter Pan," cartoons like Bugs³ Bunny. Things are changing. The films "Moana" and "Coco" earned Disney and Pixar praise for authentic⁴ representations. And now TV networks and streaming services are reaching children with realistic portrayals⁵ of Native peoples on the small screen. NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports.

MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE⁶: "Molly Of Denali" debuts⁷ on PBS this week, the first nationally distributed children's series to feature an Alaskan Native lead character.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MOLLY OF DENALI")

SOVEREIGN BILL: (As Molly) Hey, everyone. It's me, Molly.

PHILLIP BLANCHETT AND KARINA MOELLER: (Singing) Molly of Denali.

BILL: (As Molly) Let's go.

DEL BARCO: The show's creative producer, Princess Daazhraii Johnson, describes Molly...

PRINCESS DAAZHRAII JOHNSON: A little 10-year-old Alaska Native girl who Gwich'in, Koyukon and Dena'ina Athabaskan (ph). She lives in the fictional⁸ village of Qyah, population 94.

DEL BARCO: She goes fishing and hunting and also looks up information on the Internet and on her smartphone. In one episode, an elder tells her that her grandfather stopped drumming and singing as a child when he was taken away to a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MOLLY OF DENALI")

BILL: (As Molly Mabray) Why did he give you his drum?

MICHELLE THRUSH: (As Shyahtsoo) At the school, we weren't allowed to sing the songs of our people. We were made to feel bad about who we were.

DEL BARCO: Johnson says this storyline really happened to one of the elders on the show's advisory⁹ board. It's a kid's show, so it has a happy ending as Molly and her grandfather sing together.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "MOLLY OF DENALI")

SOVEREIGN BILL AND LORNE CARDINAL¹⁰: (As Molly and Grandpa Nat, singing in Native language).

DEL BARCO: For years, Hollywood didn't produce stories by or about Native people because they didn't think there was a market. Crystal Echo Hawk¹¹ says that was short-sighted. She's CEO of the nonprofit watchdog group IllumiNation (ph), which found that nearly 80% of the Americans her group polled said they want to learn more about Native peoples.

CRYSTAL ECHO HAWK: Media makers¹² have always used the excuse the Native population in the United States is statistically¹³ insignificant¹⁴. There's just - there's not a demand because you guys are so small. But what this new research shows is that there is demand well beyond the Native population in this country.

DEL BARCO: For several decades, the Australian and Canadian Broadcasting corporations have spotlighted¹⁵ shows by and about their indigenous¹⁶ populations. Now, Netflix is partnering with three indigenous screen organizations to develop the next generation of First Nations creators across Canada. And in the U.S. and in Latin America, Netflix is running the animated film "Pachamama."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PACHAMAMA")

ANDREA SANTAMARIA: (As Tepulpai) Pachamama, we won't let you down. You'll be proud of us.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOMOS LA NUEVA TIERRA")

UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Singing in foreign language).

DEL BARCO: Juan Antin is from Argentina. He wrote and directed the story inspired by his travels with his anthropologist¹⁷ wife in Bolivia and Peru.

JUAN ANTIN: And there, I fell in love with the culture of Pachamama which is how indigenous people call Mother Earth, having respect, love to the Earth.

DEL BARCO: Pachamama centers on a 10-year-old boy in an Andean village that suffers under the Spanish conquest and the Incan empire.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PACHAMAMA")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) They're taking away all our crops.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) We'll have nothing left to eat.

DEL BARCO: The Cartoon Network series "Victor And Valentino" features two half-brothers in a fictitious¹⁸ Mesoamerican town exploring myths that come to life. For example, they follow a dog named Achi into the land of the dead, where they encounter a chupacabra and other legends.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "VICTOR AND VALENTINO")

DIEGO MOLANO: (As Victor) This just keeps getting better.

DEL BARCO: Animator Diego Molano began drawing his characters in college before writing for cartoons, like "Powerpuff Girls." Molano whose heritage is Mexican, Colombian and Cuban says he wanted to share the folktales his grandfather used to tell him.

MOLANO: I love the myths, sometimes the myths are not kid-friendly so I kind of use what I like about them and kind of make a story that is relatable.

DEL BARCO: Molano says it's about time networks began showing cartoons with indigenous characters and themes. He hopes it lasts.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "VICTOR AND VALENTINO")

MOLANO: (As Victor) We're finally going to have some fun this summer.

DEL BARCO: Mandalit del Barco, NPR News.