Racism in Disney Movies - Research Paper Example

?Running Head: Racism in Disney Movies Racism in Disney Movies s Racism in Disney MoviesChildren in the Western world grow up watching and loving the ideals propagated by Disney movies. As a matter of fact, the obsession with the notion of ‘happily ever after’ is not only contained within the west, but all over the world young girls and boys are ardent fans of Disney motion pictures. Although, parents may not find anything bothersome regarding the content that they are feeding their children through the movies, but analysts have discovered a number of nefarious undertones within the innocent storylines of their movies. Further studies of these undertones present in the movies reveal that racism is not only a part of the society but is also being instilled in the young generation that has barely learned to understand the dynamics of this concept. One of the most popular controversies was raised on the Disney adaptation of Aladdin that earned the ire of many Arab Americans due to the wrongful depiction of their people in the cartoon (Little, 2009, p. 40). The most racist element of the animated film was that they depicted all the negative characters with Arab facial features and a thick Middle-Eastern accent, while the protagonists were portrayed as white-skinned and spoke in a clear English accent that can lead to racist associations and attributions. Researchers pointed out that due to these movies, children begin to associate negative and barbaric attributes with that of the race shown in the movie when they come across it in real life. For instance, Jaffar has distinct Arab features and the people who ridicule and hurt Aladdin are all given accents. Whereas, Aladdin, Jasmine and the genie speak in clear accents; Aladdin and Jasmine have fair skin and are more westernized in their appearance than the other characters. Moreover, the opening song of Aladdin also raised a huge furor because of its questionable lyrics. The lyrics of the opening song are as follows: “Oh I come from a land, from a faraway place, where the caravan camels roam. Where they cut off your ear, if they don’t like your face, It’s barbaric, but hey, its home” (Aladdin, 1992). The aforementioned lyrics are vastly clear as they depict the oriental society as crude and completely barbaric by citing erroneous and negative accounts of their culture. Although, the song has now been revised for its offensive lyrics, but the fact that it was there to begin with clearly shows the bad stereotypes and how it was propagated in earlier versions of the film. (Bernstein & Studlar, 1997, p. 17) This deconstruction of oriental culture within western cinema was first brought to notice by Edward Said’s (1978) theory of ‘Orientalism’, according to which Orientals were portrayed as crude and savages in the media to promote the superiority of western ideology. The racist portrayal was not only restricted to the Middle East, but the general depiction of the minorities was indeed quite warped. For instance, in Pocahontas, the story has been turned into a heartwarming romance between an Indian girl and an Englishman, with the story ending on a heartwarmingly happier note, with both ethnicities finally living in harmony. On the other hand, the real events were not as delightful as the one shown in the movie, which clearly represents how misguiding these movies are for the children. In the end, the Indian servant and Pocahontas’ union with her white lover clearly shows the west’s perceived superiority, which is blatantly and colorfully projected on to the big screens for the young children. In reality, the Native Indians were systematically wiped out to help the white faction gain the upper hand over the region; a painful historical fact that was skillfully masked in the film. Furthermore, in several instances the Native Indians are openly referred to as savages, which is further detrimental in establishing an image for the child. Even in Peter Pan, the Native Indians are depicted as crude people; everyone in the tribe is portrayed as mute, except for the chief, who has horrible command over the language and somehow uses it to communicate with Peter Pan. Analyzing other productions by Disney bring forth similar trends in their plotlines that further underline the racist ideology that was propagated by their media. Several black and white Mickey Mouse cartoons also contain racist content and try to establish stereotypes for the Asian community. Black and White Disney cartoons portrayed Chinese population as small and mousey character. They are also portrayed as aggressive, often hitting one another on the head and smoked opium and got under the influence that they were shown as floating through the sky. The cartoon titled ‘Lady and the Tramp’ also had a racist undertone in the form of the film’s main villain, the Siamese cats named Si and Am. They were the main negative characters, who had typical Asian features that are slant eyes and skinny. They played the piano with chopsticks and were depicted as extremely vile and cunning. The films plot further described the characters as intrinsically negative and hateful, which as a result may be generalized on the Asian population by the young children. The film consisted of several stereotypes that also included Italians and even Mexicans. The former was shown through the character of an Italian Restaurant owner and the latter was depicted through a stupid Chihuahua, who did whatever he was told to do. Such cartoons may seem innocent, but on the whole they have an incredibly vast impact in shaping the child’s view of the minority groups. Disney’s representation is vastly focused on promoting white supremacy and therefore their erroneous depiction of races also affected the black community as well, which instills a belief that only white people are entitled to achieving a typical ‘happily ever after’ ending. So, when it comes to racism, Disney has not even spared the Black population and this is particularly ostensible through the Monkey King in the movie the Jungle Book. Similar to Aladdin, the characters in Jungle Book all speak proper British English, while a pack of Orangutans that Mowgli comes across speak in an obvious South African or Black dialect. The racist element is yet again promoted through a song, as the monkeys, who in their seemingly black behavior sing about how they long to become humans like Mowgli. It is not only racist, but offensive as well, for the film tries to promote a sub-human image of the Black community and the song continues to associate several unsightly attributes with the Black community. In another instance, the classic movie, Dumbo, also features an intensely racist song sung by faceless black characters. The song’s lyrics are as follows: “We slave until we’re almost dead. We’re happy-hearted roustabouts... Keep on working. Stop that shirking. Pull that rope, you hairy ape.” (Dumbo, 1941) The aforementioned lyric clearly demonstrates the hardhearted approach towards racism and how a corporation as big as Disney is feeding such information to the future generations. Moreover, the lyrics depict slavery as something positive and show that the Black community actually likes being oppressed and even though they are slaves, they are in fact happy about their life’s situation. Another black portrayal in Dumbo comes in the form of the three crows, which are depicted as stereotypical black people; idle and speak in funny accents. They are frivolous, smoke cigars and do nothing but observe society from afar. The villain in the movie ‘The Little Mermaid’ was also given dark skin and Black features that further project the Black community and minorities as manipulative and evil. Even Sebastian the crab, who serves as the King’s right hand men, is given a Jamaican accent and even tries to coax Ariel by telling her that under the sea, there is no need to get a job. The racist elements were not only restricted to old productions by Walt Disney Pictures, but even some of the current ventures clearly show their inclination to portray white supremacy in their films, but this time the racist element was not present in the plotline but was obvious in the overall production of the film. The Princess and The Frog was an animated film made by Disney, which featured a Black princess for the first time. Although, the frog prince’s ethnicity remains ambiguous, but a dark skinned princess was indeed an interesting turn from their usual fair-skinned and big-eyed princesses in all their other films. However, The Princess and the Frog failed to make an impression at the box office and subsequently did not garner any positive reviews. On the other hand, the following year their adaptation of Rapunzel titled ‘Tangled’ enabled them to get a massive turnout at the box office and surprisingly, it featured a white skinned heroine and a hero. It is reported that not only was there a huge disparity between the box-office reviews of both movies, but there was a huge difference between the budgets allotted for them. Naturally, the Princess and the Frog was made on a smaller budget than Tangled, which further provides great insight in to the mindset of Disney producers (Escher, 2012). One of the most offensive depictions in the movies remains the good vs. evil battle, which is often shown as the white man against an individual of foreign heritage. Such depictions instill a xenophobic element within the society and also indoctrinate the young with a self-righteous view of the White segment of the population. The protagonists in Disney movies are primarily white, who are caught in trouble as a result of the machinations of the villains that are hinted to be non-whites through several auditory and visual cues. (Sperb, 2012, p. 162) The protagonists speak in clear and perfect English; such as Aladdin, despite being a street urchin, speaks perfect English and even Pocahontas, who is a so-called ‘Savage’ in the movie also has immaculate English speaking skills. The protagonists are heavily westernized, which are meant to promote the fact that the Western stands for all things just and equal. To top it all, the funny accents are only associated with the bad looking characters in the film, which somehow cements the fact that the white population is the best looking race by default and anything that deviates from this set standard or criterion of beauty is not only ugly but intrinsically evil as well. The occurrence of one or two such characters can be deemed as a coincidence, but such themes have been incorporated one too many times in their films. It drives one to the conclusion that it is not simply a coincidence but seems like a systematic indoctrination of the young ones with a sense of superiority over the minorities that may have a much more sinister purpose of widening the divide within the society between various races and ethnicities. Although, Disney has tried their best to remove all the aforementioned racist lyrics but the fact that they are still present on previous copies of the movies continues to make it alarming for parents. Even though, some parents have deemed the presence of these racist elements as completely unimportant, but it is an undeniable fact that children are highly impressionable and thus are greatly influenced by the things they see on television. Disney movies may cause them to establish erroneous pre-conceived notions about people who seem to possess the traits that are present in all the unfavorable cartoon characters. They may hear a black man speaking and immediately make the association that they are lazy and idle like the crows in Dumbo and even believe that all Native Indians are crude and have bad grammar. These pre-conceived notions will only make it difficult for them to associate or identify themselves with other races on a human level. Therefore, it is not healthy for parents to continually expose their child to such content as it narrows down the child’s horizon and he continues to view foreignness in a negative light and children belonging to minority groups may grow up to view western values and cultures as completely superior to their own. It can be seen that the racism was not only restricted to one or two characters of the films, but almost every other production is guilty of promoting a particular stereotype or openly humiliating other races; as was the case in Aladdin, Jungle book and Peter Pan. Racism is not triggered by general feelings of intolerance but it occurs through a combination of several factors that are social, political, psychological and economic. Disney is simply adding to the belief that the superiority of the white population is or should be the natural and most logical way of the world. Disney uses their young and impressionable audience to achieve this purpose, which makes it necessary to regulate the content in order to make it suitable for the young masses. References: Clements, R (Producer & director). (1992). Aladdin (Animated Motion Picture). United States: Walt Disney Pictures. Disney, W (Producer), & Sharpsteen, B (Director). Dumbo (Animated Motion Picture). United States: Buena Vista Distribution. Bernstein, M and Studlar, G. (1997). Visions of the East: Orientalism in Films. London, UK: I.B. Tauris. Escher, A. (2012). Disney’s Racism and Sexism. Los Angeles: Loyola University Press. Retrieved from: Little, D. (2009). American Orientalism: The United States and the Middle East since 1945. North Carolina, NC: University of North Carolina Press. Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. India: Penguin books. Sperb, J. (2012). Disney’s Most Notorious Films: Race, Convergence, and the Hidden History of the Song of the South. Texas, TX: University of Texas Press. Read More