Analysis of Disney’s Representation of Racial and Disability Stereotypes in Their Films

Introduction

By the age of three, children are racially aware and already performing prejudices (Benson, 2012). Disney has had a long history of making entertaining movies aimed at children, but during that time, did we notice the racial and disability stereotypes within the movies? There is the definitive racial aspect of people of color as even to this day, they are abused because of their skin tone. During the time Disney first started making their feature-length films, Walt Disney himself was known for harboring racist attitudes and wasn’t any kinder to people with disabilities. I decided to research this project as I did not realize any stereotyping until I watched Aladdin once again not so long ago; the opening title song, when released in cinemas in 1992, had shocked many as it included extreme racial stereotyping of the Arabians. This essay will outline the different 'stages' of Disney movies and how they illustrate stereotypes towards the younger generation.

Disney Movies from 1940-1970

During the early days of Disney Animation Studios, Disney released classic films that are still watched today, although there are some racial patterns included. Dumbo, released in 1940, is about a young circus elephant who is born with comically large ears and given the cruel nickname Dumbo. One day he is teased by some kids, which angers his mother, resulting in her being locked up. Then, he discovers that he can fly with his ears, surprising everyone at the circus. This is a positive aspect of disabilities as it shows that Dumbo overcame the taunts about his large ears, which could possibly have given hope to young children with disabilities at the time, suggesting they could find good use for them. During that time period, disabilities were looked down upon and seen as negative abnormalities, whereas Dumbo reveals otherwise. Some may argue that Dumbo’s ears were not a disability but just a flaw that he was born with. This is true, but it depends on how one views Dumbo’s abnormality and whether they think it is a disability or not. In my opinion, it was meant to act as a metaphor for disabilities to aid young children in growing up and to help them find a good use for their disabilities.

Additionally, the lead crow character, known as Jim Crow, was named after the state and local laws that reinforced segregation throughout the early to mid-20th century (Wikipedia, 2018). There are other issues with the crow cast of the film – white actor Cliff Edwards voiced Jim Crow, while the rest of the crows were voiced by black composer Hal Johnson and his all-black choir (IMDb, n.d.). This demonstrates clear leadership roles, with the main and highest-ranking crow being voiced by a white man and the rest of the crows being voiced by black actors. Some may argue that stereotypes like these are coincidental and the Disney producers would not have thought about racial stereotypes like these. In my opinion, I do not think that this is true because, as a movie that went into cinemas and gained a lot of money, the cast and the movie plot would have had to be reviewed by many people. Therefore, I believe that giving the crow cast these voice actors was not an accident and was thought over by the producers.

Fifteen years later, Disney brought out the beloved movie Lady and the Tramp, which is known for its famous spaghetti scene. But like many movies, it contains a negative racial stereotype. A quite humorous song included in the movie was the song "We Are Siamese" sung by the two Siamese cats, Si and Am. The animators drew the cats with slanted eyes and noticeably broken English accents to fit the racial stereotype, suggesting that the cats were stereotypical Hollywood portrayals of Asians. This is supported by the fact that the Siamese cat originates from Thailand. In addition, in the song, the two cats cause mischief, which coincides with the fact that in the late 19th century, similar stereotypes were used to reinforce the fear of the so-called yellow peril. It was the notion that East Asians posed a threat to the rest of the world, which led to strict anti-immigration policies to keep them out of the United States (Screen Rant, 2017).

In the late 1960s, The Jungle Book was released in theatres, with its live-action movie gaining a big box office hit of 966.6 million USD (Wikipedia, 2018). However, was that an improvement over its animated film? Comparable to Lady and the Tramp, The Jungle Book also includes some racial stereotypes, particularly regarding the black jazz musicians that voice the apes in the song "I Wanna Be Like You." The apes speak in "jive," which is a form of slang associated with black jazz musicians. Additionally, the apes also want to become human, which could possibly coincide with the way that black people were treated during this time period, as "not human," and racism was still highly prevalent among white Americans. However, not all the apes were voiced by black musicians; white actor Louis Prima voiced King Louie, which could or could not be a coincidence as his character is a "king" and is voiced by a white man, whereas the rest of the apes are not kings and are all voiced by black people. Therefore, the film’s song includes negative ideas towards black people, even though this is only a small portion of the film.

Following on from cultural and racial stereotyping in movies, The Aristocats in 1970 portrays stereotypes of many races; Thomas’ gang is all racially stereotyped. Pepe is the womanizing Italian cat and wears a red scarf, and Billy Ross is a Russian cat that resembles Joseph Stalin (Screen Rant, 2017). Additionally, Shawn Gahan is a Chinese cat with slanted eyes, buck teeth, and plays the piano with chopsticks. From a recent survey that I conducted, one person pointed out that "Shawn Gahan also speaks gibberish, which was meant to make fun of the Chinese and their language." Accordingly, the film’s songs were very negative in how they portrayed Russian, Italian, and Chinese races. Overall, Disney has not improved their stereotyping of racism, as films such as Lady and the Tramp, The Jungle Book, and The Aristocats all have extreme racial stereotypes of races such as African-Americans, Chinese, and Italian. In contrast, they have not included any disabilities portrayed as negative, but have shown how one overcame his disability, as seen in Dumbo. Although nobody could foresee the future and know that racism would not be tolerated in the future, they needed to improve their films. Otherwise, as time went on, they would have lost a lot of their audience as a result of racism being used much less.

Disney Movies from 1992 Onwards

Disney’s Aladdin, soon to be made into a live-action movie, has one of the most concerning negative racial aspects in the movie industry. Its song "Arabian Nights," as mentioned before, presents a critical stereotype of Arabians. It has the lyrics: "Oh, I come from a land / From a faraway place / Where the caravan camels roam. / Where they cut off your ear / If they don’t like your face / It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home" (Frook, 1993). Firstly, the song mentions that Arabians "cut off your ear if they don’t like your face," and it also calls them "barbaric." After its release, Arab-Americans were extremely offended by what Disney had stereotyped them as, which was understandable as many people know that in Arab cultures, there are extreme penalties for crimes such as robbery and murder. Disney included that into the song, which was wrong. When the film was released to video, they changed the lyrics to: "Where it’s flat and immense / And the heat is intense / It’s barbaric, but hey, it’s home" (Frook, 1993). Arabs were still unsatisfied with the use of the word "barbaric," but after this, Disney was done making changes, as they mentioned it to be "humorous" and that "people should take it light-heartedly" (Screen Rant, 2017). The controversy surrounding these lyrics highlights the broader issue of how media representations can perpetuate harmful stereotypes and the responsibility of filmmakers to be mindful of their cultural impact.

References

• Benson, N. (2012). Title of the Book or Article. Publisher.
• Frook, J. (1993). Title of the Article. Title of the Journal, volume(issue), pages.
• IMDb. (n.d.). Title of the Movie. Retrieved from URL
• Screen Rant. (2017). Title of the Article. Retrieved from URL
• Wikipedia. (2018). Title of the Article. Retrieved from URL