One of Disney’s biggest marketing advantages is in their films. Through its history, Disney films have generally been perceived as films which are family-friendly fare, with positive and uplifting morals. However, when you actually stop and take a look at the films, there is more than meets the eye. There are those who claim that Disney films are filled with subliminal sexual messages, as well as representing minorities negatively.
There are also huge concerns about how they portray men and women. Women are almost always seen as submissive, pretty, young women. The men on the other hand are also typically seen as strong, strapping young dominating men. The concern is that this impacts how society expects us to act in our gender roles. The reason for this is because these films most definitely do have a target audience....children. This makes them susceptible for seeing these stereotypes and expecting all men and women to behave this way as well.
Perhaps even more damaging than this could also is its claim that Disney shows its characters in a negative manner regarding race. Have you ever seen an African American character in a Disney film? None come to mind. Let me know if anyone can think of one.
Regardless, is it safe to assume that these films could actually be encouraging racism and sexism in our society? In the Disney films, where the heroes are often portrayed as white with American voices, and the villains are often portrayed as English, Middle-Eastern, and even African American. For example: In the film The Lion King, the hero, Simba, is portrayed by two different “obviously” American actors. The villain, Scar, is portrayed with an English accent, very effeminate, and is perceived to be representative of homosexuals. The hyenas are voiced by Whoopi Goldberg, who is African American, and also by Cheech Martin, who has a distinct Hispanic dialect.
The video below goes further into detail about how Disney’s films are perhaps negatively impacting our society. I encourage you to take a look further. Very interesting!!!!!!
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2 comments:
This is really interesting, as a child you are clearly not very aware of the idea of subliminal messages, so seeing the films you dont realize how they might portray women, men, different races as a certain stereotype. But if you think about it its true that after watching Belle, Jasmine, and Cinderella as a little girl most want to grow up and be princesses, waiting for a man to come around and sort of complete their life. I dont know, but i really really enjoyed this post.
I need someone to rescue in order to feel like my life is complete. Thanks, Disney, for that.
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