Throughout this class we have watched several movies, some movies I previously watched and some I had not. After taking this class I realized that as parents we need to monitor our children more closely with the things we allow them to see. Such movies like Shrek I thought was a kid friendly movie but when I watched it, the first line that caught my attention was when Lord Farquaad was looking for a queen to marry, and he referred to snow white as a woman living with seven men in the forest this is what people called adult humor (diversity in Disney films pg.2) I think that can be taken a totally different way, I also would have never thought that you can compare the lion king to how we live our lives each day. We are taught about good and bad, so I would have never considered that the pride lands where Mufasa and Simba lived can be compared to living in the suburbs, while the dark area where Scar and the hyenas lived could be compared to living in poverty.
Or the fact that the lions from the pride lands look clean and well fed versus scar and the hyenas who looked dirty and malnourished.
According to diversity in Disney films, Disney clearly imagined an audience that was white and that shared the ideologies of the hegemonic culture. This for example illustrates Disney’s recognition of the social and racial positioning of its audience. (diversity in Disney films pg.93) The movie Moana (2016) was another one of Disney’s biggest films, they tried to make sure that race was portrayed in the correct way since a lot of viewers felt that Disney dropped the ball when it came to movies like Aladdin and Pocahontas. The story based 3000 years ago in Polynesia, follows a 16-year-old girl named Moana who is the daughter of a Polynesian chief. Moana has always had a connection to the sea, but When a disaster threatens her island home, Moana, a born navigator, sets sail to save the people she will one day lead. embarking on a sea journey to retrieve an ancient artifact that has the power to create new islands and oceans.
This mystical object, known as the Heart of Te Fiti, was stolen centuries ago by Maui, a demigod of the wind and sea. Encouraged by her grandmother, and accompanied by a rooster named Hei Hei, Moana sets out to track down the demigod and restore the Heart of Te Fiti to its rightful place. Now even though Disney spent five years researching and working with the people in the Pacific to make sure they were portrayed in the film correctly, some viewers still felt that the culture was represented in the wrong way. For example, the way the character Maui was painted he fit the misappropriation that all pacific island men are big in stature or obese, this depiction of Maui being obese is typical American stereotyping. In an interview with The Washington Post, Marie Alohalani Brown, a professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s department of religion who is part Hawaiian, said that, in Hawaiian mythology, Maui isn’t seen as a “god” in the Judeo-Christian sense. Instead, as a “demigod,” he has both godly and human characteristics, and is viewed as an ancestor to the exalted, ruling class of Hawaii. In one of Hawaii’s most prominent creation myths, Maui is known for passing on the secret of fire to humans, drawing the Hawaiian archipelago together and slinging the sun so that it moves more slowly.
He’s a cultural hero and trickster. (Washington post 2016) When it came to the characters Disney used, they made sure the whole cast except for hei hei the rooster was of Polynesian decent. Unlike other Disney characters Moana is not a princess, but she is the daughter of Chief Tui which means she is next in line to become the chief of her tribe, a tradition that does not happen all the chief are men. She also has no love interest which would make one think she was a feminist, a lot of the other Disney princess were also dressed more provocatively than Moana. Disney often made the female characters very sexy like Ariel from the little mermaid she only wore seashells for a bikini top. after observing different movies, I realized a lot of the female roles have women that are scantily dressed, or the body shape is the same curvy breast, hips, and an unrealistically small waist. The females from the renaissance period like, Pocahontas (1995) and Mulan (1998), offer us fiercely independent women.
Mulan poses as a man in the Chinese Army so that she can enter the world of work in lieu of her frail father. But when offered the opportunity to enter permanent work at the end of the film as part of the emperor’s inner circle, Mulan turns the offer down and returns to her village. Similarly, after bringing peace to her community. Zootopia’s (2016) fiercely independent and ambitious female character, Judy Hopps – the city’s first bunny rabbit police officer – builds on this. She works hard within her police precinct to be recognized as an equal amongst her male counterparts despite experiencing extreme discrimination at the hands of her boss. She is told that she will only ever be a meter maid but eventually proves them all wrong and gains her place as a bunny among equals. (independantnews.
com December 2016) This is far different from the earlier Disney females like snow white and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) we initially encounter the princess as a scullery maid – dominated by her wicked stepmother – sullenly lifting pales of water from the well. She escapes only to find herself confronted with further dirty and monotonous labor playing roommate to the dwarves. A decade on, we find Cinderella (1950) in a house with her wicked stepmother and sisters being subjected to a life scrubbing floors wishing for a better life. And in Sleeping Beauty (1959), a whole industry is destroyed simply to protect the princess, Aurora, from a fatal prick to the finger from a spinning wheel foreseen by the evil witch Maleficent. Three fairy godmothers care for the young princess but ultimately give away their secret, safe location – due to the sheer monotony of their life and work in the woods.The message is clear in these early films: women are weak and should avoid work at all costs. It is dangerous and monotonous and unrewarding.
These female characters need to be protected, rescued and defended from the world of work by men and generally find their solace as “kept women. (independantnews.com December 2016). In conclusion after researching and watching the films I listed I am happy that I can see the change Disney studios has made along the years when it comes to gender & sexuality, and the way women are portrayed in the films. I still think they can get a little better when it comes to race and ethnicity but as we see with the princess and the frog they are trying. Hopefully as time passes we will see more and more films with an even broader diverse background.
