October blog

            For my October blog, I found the topic of Public Pedagogy very interesting. In the documentary we watched in class, Mickey Mouse Monopoly, critiqued how Disney movies are commercializing children culture. Some of the topics they covered were gender representation and representations of the “other”. The Walt Disney Company is a powerful force and creating a childhood culture. It is a national empire. Disney owns many TV and radio stations, music studios, internet sites, media production companies, sports teams, theme parks, etc. Disney controls the images and messages, limited worldview, and dominated by corporate interests. The influence Disney has on the popular culture is huge. The critics in the documentary see Disney as dangerous kind of education. However, in our eyes, we see Disney as a source of entertainment, gives us memories of our childhood, and is an important part of American culture in our identity. Children are raised by Disney in many generations. Dr. Henry Giroux, suggests Disney is playing a role in public pedagogy, and has made a spectacle of innocence. Disney has monopolized how it represents itself, by policing its images and representations. Dr. Giroux also stated how publishers are afraid of using Disney images because they don’t want to be sued. 

            The documentary went into how gender is represented in Disney films. The female in Disney films typically needs to be rescued by a male, gets into trouble easily, lack the ability to save themselves, and can be strong or powerful. Examples of this are Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame. In Beauty and the Beast, the Beast is represented as showing his behavior as abusive. He screams at her, locks her in a room, throws her father out, and rips her family away from her. Belle responds by socializing him and excuses his behavior as if he did not know any better. She reinterprets his personality as tender and vulnerable and falls in love with him. Critics say this is giving a dangerous message to children on to “overlook the abuse and violence”. This really blew my mind because I did not even recognize this until after seeing this documentary but now I can totally see and understand how that is depicted in the film. What the Disney films are showing in gender, specifically about females, is that females bodies are highly sexualized. According to Dr. Gail Dines, one of the critics, she stated that the way females are portrayed in these films construct a notion of what femininity is. For example, in the Snow white, it is showing a somewhat ridiculous feminine sensibility about how she is enjoying cooking and cleaning. Another example is in the Little Mermaid, where Ariel is a more powerful female but gives up her voice to get the prince and all she has left for him or to get him is her body. In Aladdin, it sends the message to young girls that you can use your body to manipulate people, specifically men, to get what you want. 

            The documentary showed a couple young children saying they haven’t seen any black people or characters in a Disney film. The film Tarzan shows a racist message. The film takes place in Africa, but there are no black characters. The only thing children in Africa could relate to would be the gorillas, and they only see the white man. Some critics argues this is sending a message of white superiority to black people. Another example was the hyenas in the Lion King. The hyenas are the “bad guys” in the film, and voiced from black people. This gave the message to kids that blacks are hyenas, which could lead them to think black people are bad. 

            Being able to understand how it some people can see Disney as influencing children in a negative way is important because there are some negative messages portrayed in these films, however, I do think some of these points are going in too deep and not many people will really see those messages. Although this documentary is somewhat dated, I do think Disney has gotten better at how they portray gender and stereotypes in their films. For example, the movie Frozen show 2 strong women who save themselves without the need with a male or relying entirely on a male. Also, the movie Princess and the Frog, is the first Disney movie to have an African American princess, which is a great thing and should be happening more often. Being aware of some of the messages that can have negative aspects in Disney films is good, but at the same time it is also up to the parents to ensure they teach their kids the right message and not rely on a movie to do that for them.