She's Back! Carmen Sandiego, The Role Model for all Generations
For kids who grew up chasing the elusive thief, Carmen Sandiego was an icon in every sense of the word—she was an impeccably dressed, fearless world traveler, who even taught them a few things along the way. But in the midst of testing kids’ geography knowledge, Carmen did more than simply bestow Millennials the rank of “Investigator” or “Ace Detective.”
An analysis of Carmen-related social conversation over the past five years* reveals how she gave a generation a sense of independence that has outlived those old floppy disks and CD-ROMs.
Of the 350K+ tweets analyzed, nearly all speak to The Carmen Effect – the deeply personal, long-lasting impact the franchise, and the woman behind it, had on its original generation of fans. A visualization of the conversation, available at thecarmeneffect.com, shows how for some, it’s manifested as a love of travel, passion for geography, or the occasional urge to buy a red coat.
Carmen was a first-of-her-kind superhero, showing both girls and boys how to be “sly, funny and brilliant” as a badass Latina role model. And now, almost 20 years later, her legacy lives on as a brand new series debuts on Netflix TODAY January 18th, with Gina Rodriguez voicing the lead role. I'm beyond excited that this show will be available and fill Nova with adventure, wonder and allow her to see herself as Carmen Sandiego!
And for myself, this too is going to be fun, I even ordered my red flat brim fedora! I'm going to look so fly (and just like that I aged myself, fly??).
“Playing the role of Carmen Sandiego is a dream come true,” said Rodriguez. “My sisters and I grew up playing Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? We didn’t know who she was or why she was doing the things she did, but she was this smart, savvy Latina woman who was getting out in the world, seeing all kinds of places and exploring different cultures. I idolized those things about her. And now I’m lucky enough to extend the story of a character who still inspires me everyday, introducing kids not just to her adventures, but also revealing new details about her past.”
If history’s any indication, the next generation of gumshoes are in for more than a globe-trotting expedition as they follow Carmen and sidekick Player (Finn Wolfhard) around the world. Categorizing a selection of Carmen-related tweets uncovered some pretty specific impacts of The Carmen Effect:
Signature Style (60%): Fans can’t get enough of Carmen’s iconic look – her red hat and matching trench have showed up everywhere from high-fashion runways to Halloween parties.
Passport Goals (20%): “Carmen Sandiego” is synonymous with “travel” – many frequent fliers fancy themselves a modern day Carmen, and some even attribute all that virtual jet-setting to an increased sense of wanderlust in adulthood.
Sandiego Smarts (16%): To this day, people admit learning a thing or two from Carmen - many of which they still remember (read: currency of Thailand or the definition of ‘spelunking’).
Trailblazer (7%): For others, the impact of Carmen went a level deeper – she was considered one of the first great role models, admired for her ambition, independence and intellect.
Beyond these categories, there are countless mentions and references of Carmen in pop culture that elevate her to icon status. From the unforgettable theme song to memories of hours spent playing the computer game in elementary school, it’s clear Carmen never really left.
The upcoming Carmen Sandiego series pays tribute to everything fans loved about the original – each episode is filled with fast facts that’ll turn any kid into a Jeopardy pro, following a heroic (and stylish) Carmen from Indonesia to Ecuador in the fight against V.I.L.E. But unlike past iterations of the franchise, the animated series will reveal one of the biggest mysteries of them all: Who is Carmen Sandiego? The first two episodes of the series detail the origin story that led to Carmen becoming the super thief she is today.
It's a long weekend coming up, who wants to binge with us? :)
