Pop Culture Blog | Funny News Reviews and Critique

A women’s studies professor at the University of Arizona wrote an article arguing that Dora the Explorer “creates a monolithic Latino/a identity that appeals to the dominant culture,” that “her cinnamon complexion and straight hair reflect European ancestry” and that she “enjoys an unusual geographic mobility” (article source).

The staff at CollegeHumor.com must actively read academic journals to find material, because they jumped all over this one.

The popular entertainment comedy website, owned by InterActiveCorp and operated by Connected Ventures, produces a wide variety of bizarre original videos that often go viral. Conquistadora is one of their most interesting ideas yet.

In the video, the aggressive “Conquistadora,” along with Boots the Monkey and cousin Diego, embark on a mission to “subjugate the native peoples of new world and claim their territory for the royal kingdom of Spain.” They tackle some rather adult themes and perform a very successful conquest.

For all of the satire and (uneasy) laughter it produces, much of the dialogue depicts events that actually occurred during the real conquest of the New World by European explorers beginning in the 15th century:

Dora: Why are the natives cowering like that? That’s right, they think I’m some sort of God.

(Anyone with much knowledge of the colonization, however, could find many points to argue…)

The blog Woman’s Eye on Media sums up the historical significance quite nicely:

While we are praising ourselves for letting our children watch a cartoon that has a Latina as a main character, we should question what history we are ignoring. Today is Columbus day and far too many still believe the lie that he was a simple explorer, rather than the father of the modern day slave trade, as well as presiding over the annihilation of native people.

Check out the video and we will leave it to you to judge whether or not it is tickle city.