How to Read El Pato Pascual: Disney's Latin America & Latin America's Disney

Investigating the reception and reuse of the imagery of one of the world’s largest production companies, How to Read El Pato Pascual explores the prevalent presence of Walt Disney in Latin America and accompanies the exhibition at the MAK Center and that the Luckman Fine Arts Complex.

Examined through artworks as well as vernacular objects and documentary material, the book considers Disney’s engagement within Latin America, extending from Donald Duck’s first featured role, the 1937 Mexican-themed short Don Donald, to the 2013 attempt to copyright the Day of the Dead.

The reach and influence of Disney is also examined in commissioned essays drawing on cultural studies, historical research and postcolonial theory. Included is an introduction by the editors; essays by Fabián Cereijido, Nate Harrison, Jesse Lerner, Rubén Ortiz-Torres, Darlene J. Sadlier, and Carla Zaccagnini; a reprinting of the English version of Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart’s Para leer al Pato Donald (How to Read Donald Duck) from 1973, an essay that critiques Disney comics through a Marxist lens as vehicles of American cultural imperialism; Ariel Dorfman’s reflections on the book; and a checklist of works with full-color images.

Published by Black Dog, London
Editors: Jesse Lerner and Rubén Ortiz-Torres
Designed by Jorge Verdin