Should We Ban Disney?
Hi, I’m Elin, and I’m going to tell you about a darker side to Disney.
Firstly, we’ll be looking into one of the main aspects of Disney: the Disney Princess stories.
Now these fairytales may seem innocent enough - princess meets prince, they get married, all that stuff, all good and innocent, or so you’d think.
But, it’s alleged that Walt Disney held far-right views such as the belief that all white people are superior. If true this may have rubbed off on his films, as until December last year there had never been a black princess, and to this day there has never been a black prince in a Disney film.
In The Princess And The Frog the African-American princess spends the majority of the time as a frog, all but defeating the object of having a black princess in the first place.
So to my eyes Disney appears pretty racist, which if true sends out a bad message to children. When people think about Disney, they think that girls learn a wonderful lesson that anyone can be a princess, that they have to be true to who they really are, and if they are nice to everyone they will land the man of their dreams.
But what about the message Disney sends to boys? I think it tells boys that women should be treated as objects, to be used as objects of pleasure, and nothing is more important than being the strongest.
For example, in The Emperor’s New Groove, the classic film about a stuck-up emperor who gets turned into a llama, there is one scene where he is judging a line of women, saying things such as “Hate your hair,” and “Yikes!” about the appearances of the women, finishing with “Let me guess, you have a great personality.”
I believe this is telling boys that they can have any woman they want if they’re an ‘emperor’, i.e. extremely rich and they can say to women whatever they want with no regard for her feelings.
Also, in the film Mulan, there is the song A Girl Worth Fighting For in which the men in the army are discussing what their dream woman is like. There are three stereotypes portrayed in this song: ‘real’ men want beautiful, pale girls, girls who will be amazed by the man’s strength or girls who are brilliant cooks.
This actually sends off bad messages to both boys, as to what a man should accept as a good woman, and to girls on how they should act around boys i.e. become subservient items of pleasure.
There is also the images Disney use for their heroes. They portray that all the ‘best’ men are covered in muscles and an above-average height (If I ever met any of the Disney heroes in real life I’d be wondering if they were on steroids). Not only does Disney portray their heroes as super-strong types, but they portray all other men as weak, usually quite fat, and submissive to the strong man, giving him an alpha-male role.
“Oooh, look at him! He’s big and strong and I’m not! He’s clearly better than me in all respects!” This sends off so many bad messages.
So, it’s clear as day to me that Disney presents a poor message through all of their films. But there is one Disney series in particular that I consider to stand out from all of the others… Hannah Montana.
Now, not only does Miley Cyrus' persona teach us that it’s OK to lie to everyone by having a secret alter-ego, going off and singing and dancing on stage, being Hannah Montana and telling everyone, “Nooo, of course I’m not Hannah Montana...”, it has been proposed that she has engaged in racist behaviour against Asian people as she has apparently been caught on camera pulling the corners of her eyes up, blatantly mocking them.
This is the girl that thousands of children are obsessed with, so there’s no way they would’ve missed that one happening. Is this really what we want to show our children? I believe Miley has lowered the standards of children everywhere.
Seriously, if a British person tried to start a show like that the critics would eat them alive!
Disney were once cutting edge, but a lot has changed since the 1920s. And ask yourself this; if Disney were openly saying that non-whites are evil and men should treat women as objects, would you let a child watch?
Sub-Ed note: As with everything on theSprout, this article represents the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of theSprout, we’re all neutral like Switzerland. If you wish to reply please post a comment below or - even better - write an article of your own!
The embedded video is a documentary about sexism and male stereotypes in Disney films. The content is fine if slightly humourless. It’s been up since 2007 so Disney haven’t pulled it for copyright infringement.
3 Comments – Postiwch sylw
Sambow
Rhoddwyd sylw 27 mis yn ôl - 24th February 2010 - 16:08pm
Well done El,
Someone needed to say it :)
fattigalupo333
Rhoddwyd sylw 25 mis yn ôl - 29th April 2010 - 18:27pm
Yeah i saw some stuff on you tube like this. If you search disney subliminal messages it comes up with some shocking stuff
Biscuits
Rhoddwyd sylw 24 mis yn ôl - 25th May 2010 - 22:06pm
It's an interesting point of view, but personally, I couldn't disagree more. Disney films were, and still are, made for families and children. They are the icons of every generation and it seems obligatory, no matter how old you are, to watch 'The Little Mermaid' and 'The Lion King' at least three times. The Disney films epitomise everything about great movie making; catchy music, funny characters and a really sweet plot. They should never be taken seriously, just enjoyed.
I also feel that the accusations about Walt are pretty unfounded. Anyway, if you look hard enough, you can find sublimal messages everywhere- Sherlock Holmes, Shakespeare, apparently even Harry Potter! Having said all this, I do agree with you on one point; Miley Cyrus makes me retch! x