Dora is firmly part of the culture, as big as her Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon. There’s a reference to her in Inside Out 2, she’s been mocked on Saturday Night Live and if you look carefully at the PBS show Alma’s Way, you can see a Dora doll in that heroine’s bedroom. TikTok users have embraced the Backpack Song.
鈥淭hose kids coming of age now 鈥 the ones who 25 years ago were just watching it as little preschoolers 鈥 they鈥檙e out there and they鈥檙e remembering,鈥 says Valerie Walsh Valdes, co-creator of the original series and an executive producer on the new series and movie.
CREATING A PROBLEM SOLVER
Valdes and Gifford originally had the idea for a show about a little girl who was a problem solver. Like Blue’s Clues, it would reward kids for figuring out answers posed by the host.
鈥淧reschoolers are the least powerful people in our world,鈥 says Gifford. 鈥淭hey’re not able to button their sweater and not able to tie their shoes, but if they鈥檙e able to help Dora get to the City of Lost Toys and really feel like they helped, that鈥檚 something special.鈥
Nickelodeon suggested the girl be Latina and the creators ran with it, making her pan-Latina so no one would feel excluded. Latin representation on TV 鈥 then and now 鈥 has been a struggle.
The Latino Donor Collaborative鈥檚 2024 Latinos in Media report found that Latino actors made up 9.8 per cent of the main cast in lead, co-lead and ensemble roles in scripted shows. In non-scripted television, Latino hosts made up only 5 per centof host roles. That鈥檚 despite Latin people making up nearly 20 per centof the country.
鈥淭here were few programs at the time that featured Latina protagonists with Dora鈥檚 skin tone or features, so from that perspective, the representation is valuable,鈥 says Erynn Masi de Casanova, head of the Sociology Department at the University of Cincinnati.
Dora was put in an animated world inside a computer, and the creators asked kids to help make the show better. They hired education consultants to tease out the skills Dora teaches, like spatial understanding and interpersonal. They brought in language and culture experts.
鈥淲e did it!鈥 became her signature song.
BILINGUAL HEROINE
The series is seen in more than 150 countries and territories and translated in 32 languages on Nickelodeon channels and Paramount+. In English-speaking countries such as the United States and Australia, Dora teaches Spanish; in other markets 鈥 including the Hispanic US markets 鈥 she teaches English.
Samantha Lorraine, 18, who grew up in Miami of Cuban heritage, had the Dora T-shirts and backpack. She laughs that she once even had the Dora bob.
In July, she’s starring as Dora in Dora And The Search Of Sol Dorado, which was filmed in Colombia. 鈥淚鈥檝e been doing my audition since day one,鈥 she says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an honour to be stepping into Dora鈥檚 shoes. It鈥檚 such a huge legacy,鈥 she adds. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really nice to be able to be a part of representation where it counts. And Dora is the epitome of that.鈥
Castillo, of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, puts Dora up there with Mickey Mouse in terms of an instantly recognised cultural character and says she’s relevant more than ever.
鈥淲e need more Doras,鈥 she says. 鈥淚f people were just open to being educated in other people鈥檚 languages and cultures and beliefs and not see it as a threat, we wouldn鈥檛 be in the situation that we鈥檙e in this country and the world.鈥