The Magical World of Race and Gender

I'm sure your time in college has provided you with many opportunities to hear criticisms of Disney and the messages sent. I think some of these arguments have validity. Why is it that so many women need a man to save them or to find happiness? Is it appropriate to have these women in stereotypical roles, like a housecleaner? The idea of being a princess is the goal to be achieved in many films, and this can be dangerous to girls who grow up learning that gowns, jewelry, and the need for a prince are important things. There is a possibility that it could cause girls to desire impossible or unhealthy body images. Studies have shown that women who aspire to classic feminine beliefs are at risk: less likely to use contraception, more depression, less interest in sports and physical activity. The white princesses give this impression, of demureness and fragile, while women of color are highly sexualized (for example, The Hunchback of Notre Dame's Esmerelda, Aladdin's Jasmine). The princes depicted in many of the films are overly handsome, sensitive, smart, and dare I say perfect? It's such an ideal that is uncommon and probably unachieveable. It sets impossibly high standards for boys to achieve and for girls to desire. It can create false hopes in regards to romance or at least for the romanticized worlds that exist in Disney movies.

Why is it that in Aladdin, a movie set in the Middle East, the main characters have been Americanized while the bad guys have accents? The "evil" hyenas in The Lion King had street-wise African-American dialects too. Why did the primates act black in The Jungle Book? If Tarzan was set in Africa, why was there not a single black person? And Dumbo. I couldn't believe how the black crows were depicted when I looked back on the film recently. Seriously, I can't even describe it, just watch it. And in Peter Pan, Tiger Lily's father was uncivilized and savage.

I'm not going to discount that Disney has been making progress in the last few years. The movies of the 90's depected stronger women and various cultures, but there were still many mistakes that are embarrassing, such as the depiction of ethnicities in Aladdin that I alluded to earlier, or Tarzan's white-person party. At first I'm pleased with the character of Belle in Beauty and the Beast, but upon closer inspection, her intelligence and individuality begins to disappate as she falls further for the Beast. She becomes foolish in her decisions to trust the rageful and abusive Beast. Pocahontas provides us a positive story of ignoring skin color and cultural differences, but her independence and strength that becomes clear by her choice to stay with her people is diluted in her apparent desire to be with her man. Mulan is my favorite example of progress, because it positively portrays a different culture and encourages people (particularly women) to be strong in the face of adversity and suppression, but even in that film it finishes with the idea that she needs to find a man ("Great, she brings home a sword. If you ask me, she should have brought home a man!" And of course he shows up right then.)