Prussia-Steinbach wrote:Electroconvulsive Glee wrote:I am a big fan of Disney Movies (at least the quality cartoons & classics). I would not go so far as to say they are bad for children and many have various positive messages, but one does not have to "search" very hard for more than "racial undertones" in many Disney classics.
Consider whether the following are valid examples of racism, prejudice, or stereotyping:This list is not exhaustive. Although reasonable disagreement about the degree of racism in some Disney movies, blind denial of any racism in Disney cartoons is wrong.
- Peter Pan not only includes the infamous "What makes the red man red?", but the Native characters speak a stereotypical, broken English. Further, Princess Tiger Lily’s father represents the negative stereotype of being uncivilized and savage as he holds Wendy’s brothers hostage.
- The crows in Dumbo appear and talk in a manner stereotypical and derogatory of African-Americans.
- The Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp appear to have stereotypical Asian features such as slanted eyes, buckteeth and very heavy accents and are depicted as sinister, cunning and manipulative.
- Aladdin portrays “bad” Arabs with thick foreign accents while Anglicized Jasmine and Aladdin speak in standard Americanized
English. Some of the original lyrics in the movie include: “I come from a land…where they cut off your ears if they don’t like your face. It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home.”- Tarzan, which was released in 1999, is set in Africa but does not feature any black people.
- In Oliver and Company, a Chihuahua named Alonzo appears is typecast as a Latino troublemaker with a Hispanic accent who talks about stealing cars.
- The seemingly African-American orangutans in The Jungle Book who sing they "wanna be like you" are controversial (although the use of African-American jazz characters may simply be misunderstood).
- In The Lion King, the hyenas appear to speak in a kind of street, inner city African-American and Hispanic dialects. They are portrayed as villains.
- Sunflower the Centaur from Fantasia
Such racism may reflect societal norms at the time a movie was made and are probably unintentional. However, to quote (with some alteration of context) U.S. Supreme Court Justices Kennedy and O'Connor:Prejudice, we are beginning to understand, rises not from malice or hostile animus alone. It may result as well from insensitivity caused by simple want of careful, rational reflection or from some instinctive mechanism to guard against people who appear to be different in some respects from ourselves. Quite apart from any historical documentation, knowledge of our own human instincts teaches that persons who [are different in apparent race, color, or ethnicity] might at first seem unsettling to us, unless we are guided by the better angels of our nature. There can be little doubt, then, that persons . . . are confronted with prejudice which can stem from indifference or insecurity as well as from malicious ill will. Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama v. Garrett, 531 U.S. 356, 374-75 (2001) (Kennedy, J., concurring)
You have a point with the first few - but let's remember when those movies were made, shall we?
And anyway, most of that is stereotyping, not racism.
1. When they were made may explain racism & stereotypes, but it does not make them disappear. Nor does it make them necessarily harmless.
2. Explain how derogatory racial stereotyping is not a form of racism.
