Honestly, I think a lot of it is because the author didn't do the research on the culture or because they're thinking in stereotypes. For example, Law and Order featured a Brazilian character named Javier in one episode. Javier is a Spanish name, not a Portuguese one - the proper Portuguese form would be Xavier.
As a fan of Tim Burton, I know that a lot of elements in that movie were not in the original book, but that's a discussion for another day.
This message was edited 8/17/2023, 3:02 PM