Parents' Guide to The Road to El Dorado

Diverse Representations

Racist depictions of Indigenous people -- who show a mix of Maya, Inca, Aztec, and Olmec influences in the film -- begin with their first communication heard purely in grunts and the White characters referring to their "mystic mumbo jumbo," laughing at how easy they are to fool. Only three Indigenous characters have speaking roles: One is depicted as a tyrannical priest obsessed with human sacrifice. Another -- the only woman with a speaking part -- is hypersexualized and practically offers herself to a lead character. She shows intelligence and street smarts at the start but is reduced to being giggly and submissive when she falls for one of the leads. Otherwise, women are shown to offer gold and food, or carry babies. The song "It's Tough to Be a God" sees the lead characters dancing and imitating a god with six arms, and casually singing about psalms and salaams, which shows a lack of respect and understanding for the local religion. The film is historically inaccurate, using a White savior narrative to follow two likable White men who free the people of El Dorado from a maniacal Indigenous priest, and later protect them from colonization by Cortes, the real-life Spanish conquistador responsible for wiping out large portions of the Indigenous population.