This chapter explores the music of Walt Disney's animated feature Saludos Amigos (1942). It first surveys the principal trends in music and Pan Americanism during the Good Neighbor period. It then analyzes the music, folkloric and otherwise, and relates it to the film's visual and narrative elements, connecting it to broader themes in Pan Americanist discourse. In addition, it reflects on authenticity in terms of Pan Americanism, that is, a yearning for a “genuine culture of the Americas.” It is argued that, whatever authenticity Saludos Amigos proffered through its music, the film as a whole served mainly as a tool of strictly one-sided propaganda in favor of the United States and the war effort. Authenticity, always an elastic term, becomes even more so when paired with the tools of propaganda, especially as fashioned by Hollywood.
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