The article identifies a "tacit racial hierarchy" in the animated film, rio 2, which replicates patterns in racial stereotyping throughout movie history. based on the examples given in the film, discuss what is meant by this and why the invokes the author's criticism

The article you mean is The Guardian's" Repressed Brits, evil Mexicans, Arab villains: why are Hollywood's animated movies full of racist stereotypes?".

The racial stereotyping are for example the placement of white characters (in the case of an animated movie white voice actors with typically "white pronounciation") in the lead and the characters voiced by non-white voice actors in the background. This reflects the stereotyping throughout the movie history in that white people were historically given the main role on screen (and often in life) and the coloured people were only "helpers".