On the finish of Michael Bond’s Paddington Marches On (1964), Paddington is getting ready for a visit to Peru to go to Aunt Lucy. By the beginning of the subsequent ebook, Paddington at Work (1966), he’s already en route again to England. Though Bond’s collection hints at Paddington’s Peruvian origins, readers are by no means really taken there.
So, it was a serious departure when the writers of the latest Paddington movies determined to take the bear there within the newest instalment. The latest recipient of a (shiny, blue) British passport, Paddington embarks upon a seek for his Aunt Lucy, who seems to have disappeared into the Peruvian jungle.
Lengthy earlier than Paddington’s adopted British household, the Browns, have set foot in Peru, the viewers has already seen many photographs of the nation of Paddington’s beginning. The movie opens with a prologue set in Peru’s huge, misty rainforests, the place we see Paddington as a cub being swept alongside a river.
Later, the Browns’ conversations reinforce stereotypes, portray Peru as a wild and harmful place. Mr Brown says it’s a “land of altitude illness and uncharted jungles” with scary animals, whereas Mrs Chicken, the Browns’ live-in housekeeper and distant relative, describes it as dwelling to 3 of essentially the most harmful roads on this planet.
This notion continues when the Browns arrive within the nation, with a Peruvian driver smiling as he says “good view, uh?” – as they give the impression of being down nervously at slim mountain roads.
Searching for one thing good? Lower by way of the noise with a rigorously curated collection of the newest releases, reside occasions and exhibitions, straight to your inbox each fortnight, on Fridays. Enroll right here.
The Peruvian setting and characters in Paddington in Peru typically really feel like background decor. Scenes characteristic busy cities, day by day routines and kids in vivid, conventional clothes posing with Paddington. But, just a few native characters (together with the taxi driver) have talking components.
Amongst these with traces are Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas), his daughter Gina (Carla Tous), and Mom Superior (Olivia Colman). Though early scenes present Peru’s cities and cities, solely these characters have substantial roles, and none are portrayed by Peruvian actors.
Each Banderas and Tous are Spanish, whereas Colman is British. Aunt Lucy’s retirement dwelling, beforehand positioned in Lima, is now in a jungle, isolating her from any trendy, city illustration of Peru. This differs from Paddington’s London, the place his interactions with locals form his journey. In Peru, these interactions really feel minimised.
The movie is structured as a “quest narrative”. Paddington is ostensibly looking for Aunt Lucy, but quickly discovers clues main him and the Browns towards the legendary metropolis of gold, El Dorado, hinting at a colonial-era fascination with the “unique” and “unknown”.
This premise aligns with Nineteenth- and early Twentieth-century European journey tales, the place the protagonist confronts wild, unfamiliar landscapes that function obstacles to beat. As kids’s literature professor Evelyn Arizpe notes, in these narratives, the land typically features as a backdrop for European characters to show themselves, fairly than a spot with its personal company.
Equally, in Paddington in Peru, the nation turns into a device for the Browns’ self-growth, serving to resolve household points and private doubts with out conveying whether or not Peru itself advantages. It’s vital that Paddington and Aunt Lucy, the 2 Peruvian figures with whom audiences are acquainted, lack company or enthusiasm for the search to search out El Dorado. As an alternative, they’re drawn in by European explorers’ ambitions.
Nicholas Daly, a professor of English and American literature, has argued that treasure maps in such narratives perpetuate European fantasies of mastery, presenting unique areas as mysterious-yet-conquerable puzzles. And this sense of management is strengthened by the visible metaphors employed by the three Paddington movies.
Whereas London is depicted in 3D pop-up books and dollhouses within the first two movies, Peru seems solely as flat aerial maps or an infinite jungle cover, rendering it an undifferentiated wilderness. The quipu, a document of knowledge, is offered as a mystical type of communication, and Incan ruins are proven with none trendy cultural continuity, leaving the impression that historic Peruvian historical past is indifferent from the current.
Whereas the movie acknowledges colonial violence by way of the Cabot household, their “curse” of in search of El Dorado solely minimally addresses colonial impacts. Hunter Cabot is depicted because the descendant of European colonists together with a conquistador, prospector and priest, demonstrating an understanding of the vary of strategies by which imperial energy over South America was exerted.
It’s maybe vital these colonisers are coded as Spanish fairly than British. Whereas this does mirror the true colonial historical past of the continent, it additionally partially absolves the Browns and the British viewers of any reference to these historic crimes.
Hunter’s pursuit of treasure is portrayed as insanity, contrasting with the Browns’ supposedly harmless curiosity – although their seek for El Dorado follows the identical problematic template. The movie doesn’t ask if viewers are complicit in such a colonial gaze, hinting as an alternative that solely the Cabots’ overt greed is flawed.
As we discover in our forthcoming ebook concerning the Paddington collection, his roots in “Darkest Peru” are, in any case, a colonial accident. Bond had initially envisioned Paddington coming from Africa, however modified it to Peru after his agent, Harvey Unna, identified “there are not any bears in Africa, darkest or in any other case”. This shift didn’t erase colonialist connotations, and the “darkest” label retains colonial-era stereotypes.
Peru, in reality, has by no means mattered a lot to the collection past being a obscure “elsewhere” within the custom of unique and racially coded origins. On this sense, Paddington in Peru isn’t a departure from Bond’s authentic setup a lot as a continuation of it. Peru exists as a backdrop for a British journey, fairly than as a spot in its personal proper.
What can Paddington Bear’s citizenship journey train our leaders?
Be part of The Dialog UK and migration consultants in London on November 16 for a screening of Paddington in Peru and a dialogue on migration, citizenship and belonging.
Click on right here for extra info and tickets.
