Arts Review: Dada Dora

After watching Dora discover a lost city hidden by a translucent curtain, ride a train that uses colored sidewalks for tracks, and find a volcano that erupts rubber balls, I'm convinced that the show Dora the Explorer is a minimalist Dada experiment.

Now, Dora isn't not quite as minimalist as Maisy Mouse, but it doesn't have the detailed flair of Max Ernst. For instance, The Map uses simple repetition reminiscent of Philip Glass when describing the path that Dora must take. More so, when viewing multiple episodes as a whole work, the repetition of nearly every element brings one into almost a hypnotic trance; I've seen this in children first hand.

The Dada elements are straight forward to identify, such as when Dora's path is blocked by a sleeping red chicken the size of an office complex, and no one thinks to walk around the obstacle. Some are more subtle. It's common for the characters in the show to respond to one of the repetitious phrases with a dumb look, or to give longing glances to each other.

Overall, the work as a whole succeeds in creating a nearly abstract work out of familiar objects, injecting a social commentary through subtle character movements and repetition of the inane.