Alexis Boley S. Richards 3/22/2013 Does Disneys sexism, racism, and stereotyping negatively impact viewers?

Ever since 1923, Walt Disney Pictures has been entertaining children and young adults with their classic, one of a kind cartoon movies. For generations, Disney has been a solid part of the foundation for our youth. Most of society today grew up watching these, and more, Disney classics. Popular classics include Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, or Cinderella. A majority of these movies focus mainly on beautiful princesses finding their true love. Young girls idolized the Disney princesses as role models. As Disney continues to entertain their target younger audiences, critics question the values these films portray to children. It is often from these films that children learn how men and women are supposed to behave in society, whether they are aware or not. Although Disney has been entertaining young audiences for decades, some of the morals taught in the movies are questionable to whether or not they send out positive messages and values. Princess movies are the most popular films of the Disney franchise. The storyline in most of these movies are about a young beautiful princess searching for true love, and by the end of the film they find their true love and live happily ever after. However, there are deeper, darker values beneath the basic morals in each of these movies; mostly sexist and offensive to the feminism. Take Sleeping Beauty, for example; Aurora is described as an amazingly gorgeous

woman, so young girls will believe, even if they are not directly told, that is how they are supposed to expect to look. Young girls set themselves a standard of unrealistic physical expectations; thin waist, wide hips, big butt and a disproportionate bust. Not to mention flawless hair and gigantic eyes. Aurora is cursed on her sixteenth birthday by a witch to be dead, but instead only falls under a sleeping spell until she is kissed by her prince. After she is kissed by the random Prince Phillip, they fall in love and have a happily ever after. The supposed message of this story is that true love with conquer all! However, the actual message is that you should marry a complete stranger who comes along and saves you. Any rational woman who would wake up to a strange man sexually assaulting her would more or less instinctively freak out, not immediately fall in love with him. Not to mention Prince Phillip fights a dragon and an evil witch, doing all the work and being manly, while Princess Aurora lies under her sleeping curse. The best way to get a man is to hang around and be as beautiful yet passive as possible. The same story also appears in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, when she is waken from her coma by Prince Charmings kiss. The world of Snow White is ruled by the most attractive. The evil Queens reputation is threatened when she falls second in line in beauty to Snow White. The evil Queen then goes out on a mission to destroy Snow White so she may once again be, the fairest of them all. However, she cannot take out t he Princess until she alters her appearance into a hideous, ugly hag. Why is it that the evil Queen must transform herself into an appalling old woman? Disney cannot let a beautiful woman commit murder. Not to mention it is acceptable that Snow White stays with seven little men, sleeping in their beds, and living in a cabin in the woods. She even passes out from cooking and cleaning so much.

After Snow White bites into the apple and falls into a coma, instead of burying her, the seven dwarfs decide to place her body in a glass casket so they may see her peaceful, angelic face. She is attractive to look upon only when she is silent and stationary. The moral of the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is that the only thing that matters is being pretty. Boys and girl believe that it is a competition in order to be the most attractive. Once again, you should lay around until your Prince Charming comes to save you. The story of Cinderella is probably one of the more popular movies among young adolescents. A poor young girl ruled over by her malevolent stepmother; forced to clean the house and do chores every single day. Deep down, Cinderella hopes that one day true love will find her so she may escape from her imprisonment. She sits around miserably, taking no action against her stepmother. Soon enough, one day, poof! Her Fairy Godmother comes along and magically makes her dreams come true. What kind of message does the story of Cinderella send out? That dreams do come true! Yes, but they only come true if you sit around and wait for them to magically happen. Instead of being proactive in pursuing her dreams, Cinderella sat around waiting for years; scrubbing floors and believing that, if she continued to wish very hard and take absolutely no action, everything would fall into place. This could possibly teach young children that they do not need to attempt to make their dreams come true, but instead to wait around for something to magically happen. Likewise, Cinderella finds the love of her life in a matter of days, and it just happens to be the Prince of the Kingdom. Why else do women have such high expectations to find true love so fast? It is because we grow up watching princesses finding the love of their lives, getting married, and living a happily ever after in a matter of days.

Not only does the Prince marry Cinderella, but he only marries her because of her striking beauty; not because she is a hard worker or because of her true personality. The Little Mermaid is another Disney movie in which the princess goes to extreme measures in order to find, and be with, the man she loves. Ariel, a gorgeous young mermaid, wishes to be a part of the human world and feels that she does not belong in her world under the sea. So, in order to be a part of the world of humans, she decides to make a deal with Ursula; an evil witch. They exchange a deal, being that if Ursula grants Ariel with legs, then Ariel must, in return, give her voice to the witch; the only thing that is important to the young mermaid. After Ariel has a brief encounter with Prince Eric, she agrees to give up the one thing she loves most in order to be a part of the world she believes she belongs in; but she is only allowed in the human world for 3 days. Although the story of The Little Mermaid is to emphasize that true love conquers all, it also might send out the message that you need to change your physical appearance in order to be with the person you love. Rather than accepting her body for what it really is and the world is she born into, Ariel strives to change herself in order to be a part of something she is not. She gives up her wonderful singing voice to be with a man she has spent no more than a few hours with. Not to mention she practically makes a deal with the devil, selling her soul (her voice). However, the fact of the matter remains that Ariel would never had the chance to be with Prince Eric in the first place had she not given up her voice. She figuratively made a deal with the devil; getting everything she wanted and living a happily ever after.

Not every character in Disney lives a happily ever after, such as Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Quasimodo is raised by the same man, Claude Frollo, who murdered his innocent mother. He is then forced by Frollo to live in the bell tower because of his hideous appearence, and becomes the hunchback of Notre Dame. Not only is Quasimodo forced to be isolated, but he is also told by Frollo that he is, a monster that would rejected by the outside world. Quasimodo eventually ends up in a twisted love triangle with the beautiful gypsy Esmeralda and the aforementioned Frollo. After Frollo feels betrayed by Esmeralda, he tries to burn her at stake before Quasimodo jumps in and saves the gypsy. In any other Disney movie, the brave hero would get the girl after saving her life and live happily ever after. However in this story, the only achievement Quasimodo gains is the acceptance for him to be out in public without being spurned by society. Why is it when there is a hero that is not tall, dark, and handsome, they do not get the girl they risk their life to save? Esmeralda runs off with a dashingly handsome man, even though he was not the one to save her life. Disney emphasizes that it does not matter about your personality or your intelligence or how good of a person are, but that you have to be incredibly good looking in order to be with someone else who is good looking as well. True love and heroism is great and all, but do not set your standards higher above your own social status. This message could discourage children that they do not deserve someone who is attractive if they themselves are not an attractive person. It could also influence young teens that it does not matter what type of person they are, but that it only matters how good looking they are. What about movies that do not involve the princesses? A handful of the old Disney movies contain a great deal of racism and sexism. For example, the jive talking black crow in the

movie Dumbo is named Jim Crow. The black monkeys in the Jungle Book that talk, and sound like black people, want to be real people. The Chihuahua named Alonzo in Oliver and Company is type casted as a Latino troublemaker that talks of stealing cars. This negative stereotype is what children could remember when they hear someone speak with a similar accent. Lady and the Tramp features the Siamese cats that negatively portray Asians. They clearly have stereotypical Asian features such as slanted eyes, buckteeth and very heavy accents and are depicted as sinister, cunning and manipulative. 1 Tarzan, released in 1999, is set in Africa but never featured any black people. Aladdin, the King of Thieves, is portrayed as a white kid even though the movie is set in the Middle East. The opening to the movie Aladdin was also very racist to the Arabic community. Arab-American advocacy groups were outraged at the film's opening song, Arabian Nights, that included these lyrics describing Aladdin's homeland: "Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face. It's barbaric, but hey, it's home." Disney amended the lyrics for home video release to "Where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense. It's barbaric, but hey, it's home. 2

The Fox and the Hound is mainly about segregation between two different races. When Tod and Copper are young, they are best friends and believe they will be friends for forever; until Copper comes home from a hunting trip and becomes a fox- hunting killing machine. Their friendship becomes jeopardized when Tod injures Coppers mentor, Chief (even though Chief
1

Sun, C. (Producer), & Picker, M. (Director). (2001). Mickey mouse monopoly [Documentary]. (Available from Media Education Foundation, 60 Masonic Street, Northampton, MA 01060 2 Persall, Steve. "FORGIVE AND FORGET? Disney debuts Tiana, a woman of color, and hopes to get it right this time." St. Petersburg Times[St. Petersburg, FL] 2 Aug. 2009: 6E. Infotrac Newsstand. Web. 8 Apr. 2013.

was the one to attack Tod). Set out on a mission of vengeance, Tod almost bites the dust when he is captured by Copper and his master. It is not until Tod saves Copper and his owner from a bear attack do the fox and hound decide to call a truce, and each goes their separate ways. Disneys message in this film is that even though people are of different species (races), they can attempt to get along. However, the two do not coexist as equals. The fox returns to the wild and the hound continues to coincide with the humans. Tod and Copper find their life-long friendship completely terminated. They end up trying to kill each other, and only after an individual of the pursued and persecuted race (the fox) saves his oppressor (the hound) does the Copper grant the fox permission to continue living. The only way to coexist is to separate themselves from each other so they do not kill each other. Peter Pan is another racist Disney movie that stereotypes Native Americans. Princess Tiger Lillys father, Chief Red Man, is portrayed as uncivilized and savage when he holds Wendys brothers hostage. A song they sing also explains how the Native Americans got their color. The history of the song says a long time ago, a Native American blushed red when he kissed a girl, and stayed that color, and it's been part of their race's genetic makeup ever since. Disney had to have some kind of event to change their skin from the normal, human color of "white to the now reddish tan color they are now.

Not all Disney movies send out negative messages. Toy Story teaches the importance of setting aside your jealousy in order to save somebody. Lady and the Tramp and Aladdin show that true love can cross social class boundaries. We learn the consequences for lying and learn

to tell the truth from Pinocchio. We learn not to judge a book by its cover from Beauty and the Beast (even though Beast turned out to be a handsome prince all along.)

Nevertheless, one cannot help but notice the amount of sexism, racism, and stereotyping there are in the Disney films. Disney girls are all drawn to the impossible standards of tiny waists, big racks, and beautiful faces. All of the princes have trim, muscular physiques and striking good looks. Being good looking is the only thing that makes you good. Cleaning, cooking, and singing make you the best kind of person. All of the villains are ugly, creepy, fat, scarred, or otherwise unattractive, and often are killed off. The portrayal of the elderly for has also been fostering a negative image on younger generations. The Evil Queen, Ursula, the Evil Stepmother, Jafar, Cruella Deville, and many others are portrayed as evil, sinister individuals. Even the beloved characters of the Seven Dwarfs, such as Grumpy, Dopey and Doc, could leave children with the impression that old people are bad-tempered, dozy or inefficient, it added. 3 Young girls believe they will find the love of their lives and live a happily ever after, and are also taught that it is acceptable to drastically change your life for a man you have only known for a matter of days. Not to mention all of the Disney princesses are younger than the age of eighteen. In the end, Disney movies are what you make of it. Essentially, Disney teaches young children about decency and the importance of being good. However, some negative lessons do filter into the messages of these movies; unrealistic physical expectations, high love and relationship standards, and the importance of good looks in society. Disney princess movies

Dozy, grumpy, inefficient - some of Disney's fairytales about old age." Scotsman [Edinburgh, Scotland] 31 May 2007: 16. Infotrac Newsstand. Web. 8 Apr. 2013.

perpetuate and expand racism and sexism, as opposing to merely reflecting social norms of the time. Certain cultures and races are also negatively portrayed in Disney movies. These movies will continue to impression and entertain young generations to come, but as our society today continues to advance in eliminating racism and sexism, hopefully Disney will be teaching the importance of these values in their future films to come.

Reflection

I really enjoyed writing a topic over this paper (obviously, since it is nine pages long). I chose to write my topic over the amount of sexism, racism, and stereotypes of Disney movies because it has always interested me how much the movies have changed over the 70 years since Disney was founded. It is also very interesting the amount of stereotyping there is in each of the Disney films. Growing up, I loved watching Disney movies; the Lion King and Bambi especially. However, I was never really into the princess movies and I always wondered why (I am going to assume it is because I am an animal lover.)

The only difficulty I had for this writing assignment was finding creditable sources. My OpEd was a rough draft because I had not located enough academic sources for my topic until I looked into the NCTC Library Database. In my final copy I found plenty of sources to use, but chose to stay with the minimum limit of three. Each of the sources I found was creditable.

I was very passionate about this writing assignment and found myself at times not being able to stop researching and writing. This paper will be very interesting and entertaining to most individuals, considering how popular Disney movies are then and how they are now. This paper could be argumentative to those people who believe Disney movies are positive for children and young adults. I feel like I could keep going back and writing this paper as Disney continues to produce movies.