\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWith CG,\u201d Walsh Valdes said, referring to computer-generated animation, \u201cone of the great things is that it feels like you\u2019re along for the ride, and it could really forge that connection even more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dora is becoming three-dimensional in other ways, too. In the new series, her previously unidentified Hispanic background has become specific: Mexican, Cuban and Peruvian. Diana Zerme\u00f1o, the 10-year-old Californian who voices Dora, is herself the daughter of Mexican immigrants. Kathleen Herles, who played Dora in the original series, is of Peruvian ancestry and has now returned to Nickelodeon to voice the little girl\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have those connections to our characters,\u201d Herles said during a video conversation. \u201cAnd I think it just adds more depth. Not just for us and for our characters, but to the show, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dora\u2019s ethnicity should also resonate with the audience. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 19 percent<\/a> of Americans are Hispanic, as are more than 25 percent<\/a> of the nation\u2019s children. \u201cDora\u201d now joins a television landscape that includes characters like PBS\u2019s Alma, of \u201cAlma\u2019s Way<\/a>,\u201d who is Puerto Rican, and Rosie, of \u201cRosie\u2019s Rules<\/a>,\u201d who is Mexican American.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not living in a world where we can say Latin culture is one thing,\u201d Ramsey Naito, president of Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation, said in a video interview. Eighty percent of the writers for \u201cDora,\u201d she added, are Latino themselves and can \u201ccontribute authentically to the stories.\u201d<\/p>\n One episode, for instance, focuses on the Latin American shirt known as a guayabera<\/a>, which is thought to have originated in Cuba, while another introduces alebrijes<\/a>, the colorful carved wooden animals of Mexican folk art. In that tale, \u201cThe Alebrije Adventure,\u201d the alebrijes are living creatures, and one, the jaguar Ale, voiced by the Mexican-born actress Kate del Castillo<\/a>, enlists Dora\u2019s help (and the audience\u2019s) in restoring the rainbow water that feeds the creatures\u2019 magical tree. While those elements are pure fantasy, the term \u201calebrije\u201d is real. But how to help small children remember it?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n