I found the last video we watched today (Disney Video) the most entertaining. It basicly discussed how Disney is such a monopoly that they almost dictate the movies, toys, clothes, etc. parents buy there childeren. They also discussed that Disney owns so many other company's such as ESPN and ABC that they never let anything bad be said about them. Most importantly the video discussed how characters are portrayed especially how women and men should be. It also discussed stereotyping races to certain characters such as the crows in Dumbo were portrayed as African Americans.
I found this extremely interesting that some parents and adults are so angry about these Disney movies. What we all have to recognize is that most of the movies such as Dumbo were made around 1930 and 1940. If I remember correctly it was 1942. This was how society was brought up back then and things that were spoken of such as the way women and men were portrayed and even different races were portrayed was ok at that time. Yes, things have changed and they are better but these movies are extremely old and if you do not want childeren to see them do not let them watch them. There are a ton of movies made after the fact that are more appropriate for our society. My other argument is that Disney was not always as big as a Monopoly as it is today. When it first started it gradually became very popular. So obviously people enjoy the products from Disney even from the beginning and the goal of any company is to make money. If your company is making money then why change your techniques that the majority of society likes so much.
As for the discussion question. Do you really think the way disney portrays things in there movies are a big problem, particularily the way some of the people on the video made such a big deal about how men and women are portrayed. I really do not think it is a big deal because in society today pretty much all movies and things of this sort portray men and women all the same way. Eventually childeren will see things of this sort and my opinion is that we cannot sugar coat everything for childeren. From the people I grew up with, the kids that lived sheltered lifestyles went crazy when they got freedom in college and did things their parents had nightmares about. In my opinion, I think all those people on that video suck the fun out of everything and need to look at the entertainment and enjoyment that many people get from Disney products. For the record, Disney has themeparks out of the country in Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. A big portion of profits come from these parks and some have even more demand than the parks in the U.S. Therefore I do not think the way some ethnicities are portrayed, such as Asian, make anyone from over there too angry.
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I agree that these people were making a far bigger deal out of their points than they should have. They came across as very pretentious, like they knew how evil Disney really was and had the responsibility to tell us. The fact is, Disney has created wonderful entertainment for children for decades. I know that I am personally a huge Disney fan, and this comes from my exposure to them as a child. I've seen all of these films, and yet I am not sexist, racist, and I know the truth behind pocahontas and the hercules myth. As a kid, I was just enjoying good entertainment and storytelling. I didn't even pick up on all of the sexism and stereotypes. I don't even think that its as bad as the film made it out to be. They actually left out a lot of context in their analysis. All of their arguments about the problems of having female characters being skinny and sexy were pretty weak. No eight year old girl watches those movies and thinks, "I need to be skinnier."
ReplyDeleteEven if Disney's primary goal is to make money, they are still concerned with making good films. This is why they hired one of the best minds in the business, John Lasseter, to lead their animation department. Have they included stereotypes and sexism in the past? Sure they have, and I'm not condoning it. But to suggest that Disney films are teaching our children to be sexist, racist, and violent is just wrong.