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New York, 10:05 AM
Tue Dec 1
67 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/30/09
Which latter-day Disney depiction of minorities was the most offensive: Aladdin, Mulan, or Pocahontas?
I'm going to go with Pocahontas, because they took an actual, once-living heroine of Native Americans and turned her into a highly sexed-up princess who talked to trees.
That being said, the treatment of cultures in all three of those movies was handled insultingly, so I kind of find it hard to believe that this movie will be any different.
(Admittedly: I still like Aladdin nonetheless.)
02:43 AM
03:07 AM
There are things that are very wrong with all of them.
But there are also things that are very right, and those get ignored for the sake of sensationalism and rageyness, when they're the things I actually picked up on as a kid.
Aladdin - there are definitely racist aspects to it. But it also has a strong female lead, and a male lead who loves her for her independence and intelligence, not for her body (she's fully covered when they meet) or her social status (she is pretending to be poor, and he is discouraged when he discovers that she isn't). And that the movie shows any Middle Eastern culture or people at all is extremely positive, especially since the majority are portrayed as good and normal people, even if they are good and normal people who are entirely stereotypical. What other cartoons do we have about Middle Eastern people in America? I can't think of any others.
Mulan - She cross dresses. This entire film is about proving gender roles wrong and rebelling against cultural restrictions. Again, what other cartoon does that?
Pocahontas - "You think you own whatever land you land on. The Earth is just a dead thing you can claim. But I know every rock and tree and creature has a life, has a spirit, has a name. You think the only people who are people are people who look and think like you. But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew you never knew". When I was a kid, I knew every word to that song. I am sure that this movie inspired a generation of environmentalists. And, again, a cartoon with a Native American, female lead. There aren't many of those.
All three movies have their problems, but all three are unique. I worry that being too critical of the way race was handled in them discourages anyone from trying again. I'm not saying racism is acceptable, but it is to be expected, because we haven't dealt with it yet. To deal with it, it has to come to the surface, and then we can move beyond it. We can't just try to sterilize everything. We need to actually clean it, and stop making the messes in the first place.
03:20 AM
They played up the "ethnic"-ness of Jafar's features, and those of the other bad guys, which is offensive. But it isn't offensive to think that a Middle Eastern person would look like Jafar, or that they'd look like Jennifer Connelly; they can look like both, or neither.
05:00 AM
09:30 AM
11/30/09
This guy is reaching.
11/30/09
11/30/09
Black people are not a trend.
Clearly this writer doesn't understand how long film development (especially animated films) takes.
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11/30/09
Uhm.
Is Mitchell a professor at the Cass Business School of Crazy?
Just as black American first ladies have a finite period of office, so, too, will Tiana.
Another winner. And this was published in The Times?!
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11/30/09
I think both boys and girls connect with those two films. Heck, I'm a grown woman now and I still enjoy them!
11/30/09
When I go to Disneyland my daughter gets her princess costume and because my son doesn't want to be left out when I'm whipping out my Amex, he gets his Woody costume.
My point being that Disney wants to make money off of both sexes. So for every princess flick (spending opportunity) you'll also get a "boy" flick. Prince of Persia anyone?
11/30/09
The princess movies are more geared towards girls. However, I think the non-princess ones are geared equally to both boys and girls (Lion King, Dumbo, Bambi, Peter Pan, etc)
11/30/09
Well, some of them I guess!
;-)
03:41 AM
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Of course, they just glossed right over her smallpox era in that film, though.
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11/30/09
Mitchell needs a big back catlog of People magazine. At least dating back to 1996, when Denzel was the Sexiest Man Alive 'n such.
Black people: here to stay, not a trend.
Also - his 'knowledge' of American film is really embarrassing. Yeah, Disney just whipped this one up after Election Day last year.
11/30/09