Did you read the title to this blog post? If not, go back and do so. I’ll give you a second.
Finished?
Good, now let’s get started. Doesn’t that title sound like the makings of an excellent novel? There’s the love interest, the conflict of the racial prejudice, and of course magic. Who doesn’t want to read that story? What if I were to tell you that it wasn’t a novel, but in fact a television show. You’d buy that, right?
Sure you would. TV shows usually have a good plot to keep us interested.
But… let’s just say that television show is for children. Children, you say? Now you’re curious, right?
Yeah, for serious. I’m talking about Handy Manny.
This is a kid’s cartoon that comes on in the mornings on the Disney Channel Manny is a Latin (Is that the PC way to say it?) Handy Man that helps the people of his little town fix their broken stuff.
He’s totally in love with Kelly, the hardware store owner. Seriously, I bet if I looked hard enough I bet I could find some awesome fanfic of them finally going on their first date.
Kelly’s the hot white girl that owns the hardware shop. She’s babe-alicious, always has her crap together, and keeps her store open late for all Manny’s er-hardware needs.
And then there’s Mr. Lopart. He’s the dumb guy that thinks he can fix all his stuff without Manny’s help, but inevitably screws it up and has to call Manny for assistance. Oh, and um–he’s white. Here we have the dumb white guy stereotype. Manny is always really nice to him, but there’s a lot of sidebar eye rolling.
You don’t believe me? Here are some of the wiser, more sage characters: his grandfather Abuelito, the sweet old lady with a lizard, and of course all the hispanic school teachers.
Oh, and I can’t forget about the other white guy who works in the video store. He just shows up when he feels like it.
Now we get to the weird part. The magical realism. I think it’s important than when you have a fix-it handyman you should totally give him a drug problem. How else would you explain his talking tools?
Now that I know all there is to know about this show and its stereotypes, I bet you’re wondering if I let my child watch it?
You bet I did. I wanted to know if Kelly and Manny ended up together.
Nicole
Monday 19th of April 2021
I used to love Handy Manny! I never noticed those moments.
Dan
Monday 25th of April 2016
I total agree with your Calliou review, but you went way to far with Handy Manny. You sound like a total screw up! You can't be watching kids shows with an adult mind. You may as well think that the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is a whore house. Never ever reading your BS again!
Monogamy Shmonogamy
Thursday 3rd of March 2016
This is satire/ironic right?
@jmartinlibrary
Tuesday 19th of January 2010
Holy Mother of McCartney, that's a trippy show.
Not only does Manny take LSD, he serves up a steaming load of After School Special tucked inside a shiny, googly eyed CGI shell. .-= @jmartinlibrary´s last blog ..Literary Mashups: Paul is Undead =-.
Chantal Kirkland
Tuesday 19th of January 2010
I don't even watch the show--but I will now!