As a little girl, my favorite movie
was Pocahontas. She was my all time favorite Disney movie princess because of
her beautiful long brown hair and her dark features. Out of all the Disney
movies at that time, she was the princess that was most relatable to me. The
Disney documentary in class brought up numerous amounts of evidence that were
valid. It highlighted that Disney has been insensitive towards race, gender,
and culture. I think the millennial
generation is the most affected by Disney movies because it was at the time
when the most iconic Disney movies were released. The herd instinct comes into
play into this situation because millennials are afraid to admit Disney may be
racist, sexist, and derogatory to minorities. No one wants to truly accept this
horrible realization because the majority of this generation and generations
after us love Disney movies. I think it’s important for Disney to be
politically correct and to make sure they respect the cultures and accurately
depict them in movies. They have such a heavy influence on children for the
last twenty-thirty years and it’s important they know that. Disney does bring
joy to millions of children but the amount of influence they have is
frightening. According to Colombia Journalism Review (2013), Walt Disney owns
multiple media companies. They own ESPN, radio stations all over the country,
multiple news outlets, Disney theme parks, and TV channels. That is a lot of
control Disney has over our media and is more proof they need to make sure to
be politically correct at all times.
A scholar journal called published by Towbin, Haddock, Zimmerman, Lund,
and Tanner(2004) discuss how women are portrayed in Disney. They observed in
multiple movies that “a woman’s value was determined by her appearance rather
than her abilities or intellect” (Images
of Gender, Race, Age, and Sexual Orientation in Disney Feature-Length Animated
Films, p.30) I thought this was interesting because looking back on this
there is a visible pattern that proves there statement. Every princess faces
some sort of adversary but they face it because someone is jealous of there
beauty. Movies like Beauty in the Beast,
Little Mermaid, Cinderella, and Snow White are perfect examples of this.
All of these movies have plots that focus on how beautiful the princesses is. Cinderella
is hated by her stepfamily because she is prettier than all of them and her
petite beautiful blonde self makes the prince fall madly in love with her. Ursula
betrays Ariel because she is jealous of her beauty, but Eric still falls in
love with her for her because of her physical attributes. This scholarly
journal gives really good examples and is something you should read if a person
is ready to retreat from the herd instinct mindset.
The majority of people in my
opinion have wonderful memories watching Disney movies. I think that is what
makes it hard for us to accept the fact Disney is not perfect and has perceived
the fairytale life in derogatory ways to all types of groups. Hopefully, our
world is becoming a more accepting and respectful place and that Disney will
adopt these values. I have hope that Disney is becoming a more culturally aware
company and in the next years to follow will show respect to all people in this
world.
Works Cited
Who
Owns What - Columbia Journalism Review. (2013, February 14). Retrieved October
28, 2016, from http://www.cjr.org/resources/?c=disney
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