Underlying Issues in Animated Disney Films
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Have You Ever Thought About It?
Growing up everyone loves watching Disney movies whether its The Lion King or Aladdin we all just fell right in love. What we did not know growing up however is that each of these movies we watched seemed to effect us in ways you could never imagine. That is why i decided to create a blog all about the underlying issues of sexism and racism in Disney animated films. In my blogs you will see me point out and talk about some of the examples i found while watching these movies. It is interested to see how interconnected this two issues truly are , and how one can definitely effect the other. In the end all of these films are sending to messages to children whether we like it or not so it is important to think about future films.All of my blogs are in reverse chronological order with the newest movie coming out in 2014 and the oldest introduced in 1953. Think about all the negative messages we are sending about race and sex in the world, and how after 61 years it is continuing to happen. So take a few minutes to read my blogs and ask yourself the question "Have you ever thought about it?"
Monday, April 28, 2014
Frozen
The final movie in my blog series will be the newest Disney
movie to date, which also happens to my personal favorite Frozen. Right from
the beginning I fell in love with its upbeat musical tunes, magic, and of
course Snowman Olaf. Overall this movie seems to have a pretty positive not
finally showing the two female characters overcoming their hardship, and succeeding.
However like every other film they cannot do this all alone.
When
looking at race in this movie we can see that all of the main characters are
white just like in the typical Disney film. Not only that but its dealing with
the typical white girl being brave and facing a challenge no one else has ever
encountered. It is interesting to see that this movie like other Disney movies was
based on Norway. Why do writers continually use the same setting even when they
have so many different options? This film reminds me a lot about Ella Enchanted
and how she had to live with the curse of obedience; however Ella was not born
with the curse like the main charter in frozen, but was rather given it at
birth.
When you look at the film overall you do not see very many people of
color unless it is in the scene with the ball which is against what is actually
seen in the real world. Why did writers choose to make Hans white even though
he was from a different country then the main characters? They could have taken
this opportunity to incorporate different races and make the movie more
diverse.
Princess and the Frog
The first African American princess finally it seems like
Disney is taking steps in the right direction, but are they really. Honestly
before writing this project I had never seen this movie, because it didn’t
appeal to me. In my defense I haven’t seen Brave or any other newer Disney
movies. I am glad however that I did watch this film, and was surprised to see
that it had racist aspects. In this film southern African Americans are
portrayed as the typical poor families that cook southern food such as gumbo.
When paying attention to the main male character they did not even make him a
truly black man.
Why is Disney afraid to have a black male in a situation of
power, and why is he so power hungry right from the beginning. Another
interesting thing about race in this film is to see that the main characters
are only in their colored human form for a minimal percent on the entire movie,
but spend most of the time as frogs.
In this film sexism doesn’t play such a major role as it
does in the past Disney films which is nice to see from a viewer’s point of
view. However is you look close enough you can see the underlying message of
women not being able to be royal and successful on their own. It is only once
she falls in love with a male that she becomes a true princess. So why are
Disney films continuing to teach are children they women cannot survive on
their own?
I believe it is because that is what they feel is normal, and what
has happened in the past. When thinking about the real world you can see that
there are no real famous female leaders except the Queen of England whose title
is basically for show. So when will women get the opportunity to stand on their
own two feet and accomplish things on their own?
Mulan
Mulan, the fearless warrior who saves her village, and
sacrifices herself for the better good of her family especially her father. When
you think about the story in general we finally think children will be given a
strong female role model, but as in other cases we again wrong. To begin with
Mulan, another multiracial female, is known for breaking the law and disobeying
her family by joining the army even though she was trying to do good for
everyone.
Then we see throughout the film she is being advised by a tiny male
dragon, and that she is eventually saved the man she falls in love with by
being spared when it is found out that she is a women. We can also see the
intense pressure from the beginning that Mulan receives to get married just
like every other Disney film talked about. Not one female can truly be strong
all by themselves throughout a Disney movie, and this can negatively impact
children.
Racism
is also very evident in this film when you look at how stereotypical the characters
are drawn especially Chi Fu.
This character is drawn like a caricature with emphasized
facial features and he also has an extremely heavy accent. Another reason this
movie can be considered to be racist because everything in the film is stereotypical
Asian rather than the traditional cultural aspects. Also if you look at a lot of
the evil huns warriors you can see a trend of handlebar mustaches with their leader
having yellow eyes, vampire teeth, and massive claws.
Pocahontas
When you think of Pocahontas you think of a beautiful young
lady who ultimately defies her father to be with the man she loves even though
he is from a different culture. So the fact of this whole movie being based on
a biracial it can’t be racist can it? Wrong this movie is just as racist as all
the rest of movies I’ve talked about. We
can see the straight up racism when the Europeans invade the Native American
land and sing the song savages. In this song Europeans sing “Their whole disgusting
race is like a curse .Their skin’s a hellish red .They're only good when dead”.
They are straight out saying that the Native Americans are worthless and are
nothing but bad. However the Native Americans do fight back saying that “the
paleface is demon” so unlike other films both races are taking a hit. Like in
Peter Pan the Native Americans are seen as the typical red skinned, painted
face, with feather head pieces with fits with the typical racist stereotype.
Similar
to Aladdin, Pocahontas has attitudes of sexism and racism present within the
major female character. In all of the Disney movies talked about it is
interesting to pay attention to the females wardrobe, if you look carefully the
white women are more likely to be fully dressed with very little skin showing.
On the other hand the multiracial females have skimpy outfits exposing their
legs and even breasts to some extent.
This is making multiracial women look
more like a piece of meat then a strong independent women fighting for what
they want or trying to make a change. These multiracial females are also
usually the ones shown to defy their father’s wishes like when Jasmine wants to
marry Prince Ali, and in Pocahontas were she wants to marry John Smith. This is
teaching younger children that people of different races don’t fall rules or
respect their families.
The final major form of sexism involves the repetition that
Pocahontas is not capable of picking her own mate, because she is not capable
and destined to marry who she is told. This is making it seem like women can
not make their own important life choices without being told to.
Aladdin
It’s Disney’s version of the
classic love story of a poor boy who falls in love with the beautiful princess,
and they want to marry but her father will not allow it.
However right from the
opening scene we can the evidence of apparent racism of the stereotypical Arabic
village. We see the typical dessert scene, with a merchant riding a camel
through this town that appears to be a wasteland. This scene also had to be
changed because a number of protesters did not appreciate the line “Where they
cut off your ear if they don't like your face” because it makes it seem like
those of Arabic decedent are extremists that will stop at no costs to make their
country how they want it. We can also see the stereotypical Arabic man being portrayed as an overbearing man with distinct facial hair and other features.
In this movie in particular sexism
and racism are closely related and we can see this through the main female of Jasmine.
Disney completely throws out traditional clothing and dresses Jasmine in a
number of skimpy sexual outfits that objectify women which is extremely sexist.
They also use her character to try to say that their government is extremely
forceful, and that women could not run the country alone which causes her
father to find her a mate at any means necessary.
This shows how women are
undervalued and put below men in other countries teaching young women they are
not good enough to do things alone. To find her mate we see men fight over this
beautiful women like she is a prize to be one, until she is captured by Jafar.
While captured Jasmine tries to escape using her looks which is basically
saying women only have their looks going for them, and can’t fight like men.
She is eventually saved by Aladdin because she can’t escape by herself which
fits in the typical damsel in distress stereotype of women, and how they cannot
take care of themselves.
Beauty and the Beast
Such a wonderful love story, two
people fall in love with looks not being the key factor. It may be possible
that Disney set up Beast to represent an African American man, thus assuming
that African American males were angry and abusive. However in the end of the
movie the beast turns into a white man. This could have been to protect
themselves from having a biracial couple and the underlying issues shown.
Racist
issues against the minority aren’t has relevant as the issue of the typical
innocent white girl. All her outfits fully cover her entire body, and she never
has a hair out of place. She always has a book in hand excited to learn and
read more.
Before this movie became popular
Disney representatives publicized Belle as a true feminist, the complete
opposite of Ariel from the little mermaid. Compared to Ariel Belle is a lot
more feminist because she is fully clothed, and does not change herself for
true love.
However Belle is responsible for forcing the Beast to change from an
angry cruel beast to a loving man. This is basically saying that a women tries
hard enough she can change an abusive man into a caring one. If real women were
to follow this message and try to change their abusive partner they would most
likely end up in the hospital.
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