Stereotypes In Disney Movies

Back in 1995, as a 20 year old woman, I was, absolutely, still in love with everything Disney. I was still very much enamored with the romance and fairy tale aspects of all their stories and movies. So when the Walt Disney Company released the animated feature “Pocahontas” in the summer of my 20th year, I had to see it. At the time, I thought I had hit the jackpot with this movie. “An American legend comes to life” is the tagline to get viewers interested in this movie. [1] A heroin, whom was a beautiful Indian and a love story, who could ask for more from a Disney movie, I thought to myself. Now, being ignorant of the true facts about the Indian woman Pocahontas and even about Indian culture and history itself, I took this story more

Also, the movie did not showcase Pocahontas’ helpfulness to the colonists. She “...brought food to trade for English goods…” , which saved the Englishmen when they were starving and she “... saved the lives of Smith and other colonists in a trading party in January 1609 by warning them of an ambush” (Tremblay, “Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies Volume 23”)(Price, “Encyclopaedia Britannica”). The movie chose to forfeit the qualities which made her an outstanding and strong person for a dull romantic

Pocahontas’s real name was Matoaka, Pocahontas was a nickname that meant ‘playful child’. John Smith was described as an abrasive, ambitious, and self-promoting mercenary soldier. They did know each other, but the question of the matter is; did Pocahontas save John Smith’s life? There is much speculation about this story. John Smith had told tall tales before of strong women arriving in the nick of time to save his life.

How are non-white characters structured to perpetuate negative stereotypes in children’s movies? FOCUS POINTS 1. What is the stereotype about POC in these films? 2. How does this representation contribute to racial stereotyping?

The prominent narrative in the film is that John Smith is the true hero and is deserving of Pocahontas’s love for his acts of passion. However, John Smith was historically a narcissistic person. The article The Myths abound the New World went in depth to say, “Smith also had a wide self-promoting streak. He penned thrilling adventure stories of his exploits, with himself as the swashbuckling hero.” With those credentials it would be hard to pressed to make John Smith a hero due to his exaggerated tales. Another false narrative spread throughout the movie was that Pocahontas had a mature body in the film. Suggesting that she was older when in reality she was no more than twelve or thirteen years old. Which is pedophelic on Disney’s part. With the continuation of false narratives, the true relations between natives and settlers were enshrouded in inaccuracies.

We know that when she saved the life of John Smith, she was only about nine years old and did not marry him. Actually, many people do not believe John Smith because when Pocahontas first went to England, she was a prized position because no one had seen an exotic person like herself. They wanted to show the king and the people of England how people from the "new world" looked like. Smith stated that the nine year old girl had saved his life in Jamestown many years ago because of her father. Legend has it that, this nine year old girl who is Pocahontas stood up to her chief father from killing John Smith.

Many little angels and princess have grown up watching Disney movies and falling irrevocably in love with the dashing, debonair and gallant princes who are forever rescuing the princesses or the sweet damsels from distress. Many sighs have been heaved and dreams woven around this witty, handsome hunks. Now those dreaming about how their favorite prince can see how their chivalrous prince looks like in reality courtesy of the digital artist Jirka Väätäinen,who created hyper-realistic images of this swashbuckling heroes.

It seems like the entertainment icon Walt Disney Company has been around since the beginning of time, entertaining the public with its lifelike and imaginative animations and characters. Nearly every parent and child that has been born in the last century has experienced a Disney animation or film at some point in their lifetime, which has left either a negative or positive impression on them. The experiences with Disney films leaves most viewers with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside or the feeling of happiness, because the films themselves take the viewer on a ride out of their reality into the World of imagination, fairytales, and fantasy. On the contrary some ethnic viewers leave Disney films feeling misrepresents, disrespected, and upset regarding the way that Disney choses to represent race and cultures other than Caucasian in their films. Minorities claim that the Disney Company is racist, and does not take into consideration the cultural differences between ethnic groups but instead deliberately stereotypes and homogenizes all racial groups and protagonist in their films.

Nearly everybody has experienced a Disney animated film in their lifetime, which has left them with either a negative or positive impression on the film, the characters or Disney as a company. Most people picture Disney, as a world of imagination, fairytales, magic castles, and dazzling Princesses. When we hear the name Disney the first thing that comes to mind is our favorite animated characters that we grew up watching on television like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or even Buzz Lightyear. Disney has made a name for itself as a family friendly, children oriented company. They also claim to operate under a set of values called the “Disney value structure” which Walt Disney himself implemented early on. These values can be misleading, and many suggest that they are a cover for Disney’s hidden racial biases and ulterior motives. What people fail to recognize is that Disney is a media conglomerate whose sole purpose like all businesses is to make a profit, although in this case they do so at the expense of their unsuspecting viewers cultural identities and self-image. Disney uses racial stereotypes in the form of microaggressions that are subtly placed throughout their films and racially coded slurs to misrepresent, homogenize, and disrespect ethnic viewers of their films. Do not be fooled by the relatively innocent nature of Disney films, behind every film lies the darker side of human nature, with the sole purpose of exposing our children to a series of racially coded slurs and culturally accepted stereotypes; in order to perpetuate the cycle of racial tensions that have existed since our countries founding (Schreiber,1). In fact, dozens of Disney cartoons and films including Dumbo, Peter Pan and even Princess and the Frog include racially coded slurs and damaging stereotypes that have left a negative impression on viewers (Schreiber, 2).

A little girl sits on the floor with her gaze fixed on the television screen in front of her, watching magical images dance before her eyes and catchy songs flow through her ears. Even though she had seen it at least twenty times before, she still loved The Little Mermaid just as much as she did the first time she watched it. As she watched it, she longed to be a beautiful mermaid with a curvy body and wonderful singing voice like Ariel. She longed to be saved by the handsome Prince Eric, and fall in love and live happily ever-after like Ariel did. In today’s society, women strive to achieve equality between the sexes. Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these

“Movies can and do have tremendous influence in shaping young lives in the realm of entertainment towards the ideals and objectives of normal adulthood.” -Walt Disney Since immemorial times Disney has been a base in the development of children's mindset and attitudes, the movies that this company produce are imminent to children since Walt Disney released the first movie. In the other side, there are certain things that these movies have that can be considered inappropriate or offensive for some people, some unspoken messages.

In the movie, Pocahontas John Smith was always shown as the hero who brought the native together and Pocahontas was just part of the plan, but this is not true. Without Pocahontas role as the Beloved Woman, John Smith may not have been alive on the day of his execution. Partly because of the role of a Beloved Woman “...called on to decide whether any captive-leaders and warriors alike would be executed” (Allen 333). This illustrates the importance of Pocahontas and her role within her tribe and that her decision could not be overridden by anyone including the chief. Also with this turn of events clearly states that the role of women in the tribe was fairly important because they held a greater risk “...involved in a great world change in these

Generally, Disney collection displayed a different set of stereotypes but contemporary films have exhibited an interesting findings which could be generalized on the contemporary Disney Princess films which is the strength of this study. The present study clearly demonstrate that there is a mix of stereotypical and non-stereotypical which is due to the gender role transformation. However, it is imperative to note that despite of gender role transformation certain behaviors and stereotypes are still prevalent even in the contemporary movies.

We all have different goals in life, my goal has been clearly defined since my toddler years….to be a Disney Princess. So Recently, when I found one of my favorite Disney movies growing up stashed in an old drawer. I decided to watch it for old time’s sake. When I watched it now, however, there were a lot of… innuendos I missed when I was five years old. I also was much more aware of the actual story line, not just the adorable talking animals. I started to see some serious gender issues from our four legged and two legged characters. After it finished, I watched the credits and I noticed that the film crew was male-dominated. I couldn’t find a single female. Many other movies are male dominated when it comes to their characters, and if

Animated films are commonly regarded as innocent and enchanting with little influence on the ideological beliefs that develop in children. Yet it is evident that this rhetoric is detrimental to the understanding that children are highly susceptible to influences from film and lack necessary skills to think critically. Thus, animated films instill ideologies within children that follow them throughout their lives. The predominant white narrative within the Disney film Pocahontas misrepresents Indigenous culture by portraying them as savage, bestial, and primitive caricatures while the falsification of historical events sets to maintain the archetypical white Anglo-Saxon supremacy, creating hegemonic ideologies that decisively impact how Indigenous people are viewed negatively within society and internally feel Otherized, causing confusion of personal identity. I will begin by articulating how films provoke fantasy, fears, and social concerns to garner audiences for profitability. These provocations are rooted in the ideologies of the dominant culture at the expense of Indigenous peoples. I will then express how the ‘Self’ (white men) and the ‘Other’ (Indigenous people) are segmented within Pocahontas and the effects this has on the relationship of Indigenous people to society. Next, I will discuss how the false representation of historical events creates cultural hegemony and reinforces categorization of Indigenous people. Lastly, I will demonstrate that the negative and