The Matador

The Matador
Background information
Short films	Ferdinand the Bull
Inspiration	The Matador from Munro Leaf's "Story of Ferdinand"
Character information
Home	Spain
Likes	Fighting
Dislikes	Non-hostile bulls, Ferdinand smelling his bouquet of flowers, Ferdinand licking his chest
Paraphernalia	Bullfighter cape Sword
Status	Active

The Matador is a character and the main antagonist in the 1938 Disney animated short Ferdinand the Bull.

Background

Personality

The Matador is an eager, egoistical man who looks for the best bull who would fight against him at the bullring. Despite being valiant enough to fight his enemies such as bulls, he became fearful of Ferdinand who smelled the flowers, despite Ferdinand not doing anything hostile towards him. This eventually made him frustrated in causing him to throw a tantrum, giving him no chance to fight with his bullfighter cape and sword, which results in Ferdinand being taken out of the bullring so that he could sit at his favorite corner tree quietly once again.

Role in the short

As Ferdinand and the other bulls are getting ready for a bullfighting event at Madrid and after Ferdinand unwarily sat on a bumblebee which caused him to crash into many objects, this impressed the five men who were looking for a perfect bull that would fight against the Matador. As a result Ferdinand is taken to a bullring. The Matador is the final bullfighter to enter the ring as the proudest of them showing up his big ego. The Matador impresses a group of women as he bows for the audience which one of them throw a bouquet of flowers at him just before Ferdinand enters the bullring. Just before he could enter, all the bullfighter were all afraid of him, but The Matador got scared stiff, due to the fact that Ferdinand was smelling the bouquet of flowers the Matador is holding. When Ferdinand sees the bouquet of flowers in The Matadors hand he forget everything else and runs out to the middle of the ring. Thinking Ferdinand is coming for him The Matador drops the bouquet and runs away. When Ferdinand then just starts to smell the flowers The Matador then approaches Ferdinand in a furious manner, pressuring him to fight and be fierce. However, Ferdinand refused to fight, causing the Matador to react in disgust while Ferdinand sat and smelled the flowers quietly, just as the Matador started to become furious as he tored apart his red cape and made ugly faces to make Ferdinand fight him. Ferdinand had still no interest in The Matador at all and just still just smelled his flowers. In a fit of rage, the Matador broke his sword, stamped his feet and pulled out his hair literally in frustration and Ferdinand still didnt show The Matador any attention. The Matador then went down on his kneels in dispair starting to beging Ferdinand to attack him and then tears his shirt open and bares his naked chest to the bull leaving The Matador defensless and an easy target. On The Matadors chest there is a tattoo of a beautiful red flower and the name Daisy which Ferdinand notice. Ferdinand finally shows interest for The Matador, but licks his chest instead for attacking and the humiliated Matador starts to cry because he cannot show what he can do with his cape and sword. As a result, Ferdinand is taken out of the bullring back to his home with the Matador humiliated; Ferdinand happily lives at his favorite corner tree sitting quietly once again.

The fate of The Matador afterwards remains unkowned.

Trivia

• The Matador is a caricature of Walt Disney himself. The way a matador character was caricatured by Disney himself was previously done in El Terrible Toreador, where the character of Escamillo was a caricature of Disney himself.
• Part of the animation of the Matador throwing a temper tantrum would later be recycled in the 1942 wartime short Stop That Tank!, four years after Ferdinand was released.

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