"Even before Columbus," it was explained, "Europeans envisioned somewhere in the distance a New World where they could correct the failings of their familiar Old World...In the beginning, America seemed the New World because it pointed toward the future rather than toward the past...As the 20th century approaching its last quarter, the world of the 1970s increasingly valued stability and tradition, and shunned change, might well reflect upon what would be lost with the extinction of that optimistic willingness to bet on the future once characteristic of Americans."
On television, to reflect the diversity of the nation, ethnic superheroes such as Apache Chief (native American Indian), Black Vulcan (black American), Samurai (Japanese), El Dorado (Mexican) and Rima (Latin America) were introduced on the children's 'SuperFriends' series.
Rima (also known as 'The Jungle Girl') was a character in William Henry Hudson's 1904 book, 'Green Mansions'. 'Green Mansions' was made into a motion picture in 1959 starring Audrey Hepburn.
Mel Ferrer recounted, "The thing that scared the studio was the fantasy aspect of the story. Fantasies had seldom been successful on the screen. Audrey had never heard of ('Green Mansions'). She had grown up in Holland during the war and had little to read. She was sometimes sensitive about being 'uneducated'. Audrey wanted to do the picture whether I directed or not."
Of 'Green Mansions', Mel made known, "We’ll film background shots in Venezuela, Colombia and British Guiana. And we arranged to ship all kinds of dugout and bark canoes, blow guns and other gear for the Indian village up here. What I needed was a rain forest which Hudson described in the book. But I discovered they had virtually disappeared in the face of civilization. I did find one, but it was covered most of the time by clouds, and the forest was so dense at the tree top level that little light came through. So we’re building our own rain forest on Lot 3."
