Race and Culture
in Disney Movies
Ms. M. White
Media Studies 120
Aladdin
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Arabian Nights
Aladdin

Princess Jasmine, the
only female character
in Aladdin (1992), is a
lot like Disney's other
women.
Racism
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But there is another very worrying thing
about this movie, its racism.
Listen to some of the songs, for example:
"I come from a land.... where they cut off
your ears if they don't like your face. It's
barbaric, but hey, it's home."
Look at the characters:
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
The evil characters, like Jafar, look very
Arabic.
On the other hand, Aladdin, the hero, looks
and sounds like a fresh-faced American boy:
his skin is much paler, and he asks people to
call him 'Al', an American name, not an
Arabic name.
Disney magic

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Of course, Disney does not intend to offend people that would be bad business.
Most people who watch the movies are probably
caught up in the Disney magic and don't notice these
things. But that's the problem.
One way in which Disney creates the magic is by
using stereotypes that people respond to without
thinking. Aladdin looks 'right' for a hero; Jafar looks
'right' for a villain. We don't think about it.
The Lion King

Mufasa! Mufasa! Mufasa!
Racism & Stereotypes

The Lion King does the same thing. The characters
are animals, but their voices show racist stereotypes.
Even though The Lion King takes place in Africa, two
white American actors are used for the voice of
Simba, the hero. However, the hyenas who are bad
characters in the film, speak non-standard English
and are played by actors like Whoopi Goldberg and
Cheech Marin. The villain, Scar, suggests
homosexuality.

And, of course women (the lionesses) are
weak and need a male hero: when Simba
runs away, the lionesses cannot protect
themselves from the evil Scar and must wait
for years until Simba returns to save them.
Pocohontas

After The Lion King,
Disney became
interested in the idea of
'multiculturalism' and
made Pocahontas in
1995. This movie mixes
Disney's favorite story
of the princess- in-love
with a real story from
Native American
history.
The problem of Disneyification
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
That is a problem because Pocahontas was a
real woman, and she was very different from
the Pocahontas that Disney invented.
To give only one example: in real life,
Pocahontas was a child when she first met
the 'hero' John Smith and there was no
romance between them. When Pocahontas
met Smith again years later, she called him
'father'.

But there are even more serious problems
with the Disney version of Pocahontas and
the video follow-up, Pocahontas II. The
movies ignore the real fate of both
Pocahontas and her people. The first movie
ends cheerfully with peace between the
colonists and natives; in fact, many, many of
the Powhatan Nation (Pocahontas' people)
were later killed.

As for the real Pocahontas, she was
kidnapped and held hostage. She was forced
to become a Christian and behave like a
'civilized' white woman. She was married to a
colonist who believed that the civilization she
grew up in was evil.

Later, Pocahontas was taken to England, to
help advertise the colony of Virginia. In
England, she was homesick. She became ill
and died before she could return to her
homeland.

None of this is in
Disney's movie. And
that is very worrying,
because many people
believed that they were
learning about history
when they watched
Pocahontas.
Neil Young & Pocohontas
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Neil Young
Mulan
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Disney has done a similar
thing with Mulan (1998),
the story of a Chinese hero.
The real Hua Mu-Lan lived
so long ago that her story
has become a Chinese
legend - a legend that Disney
has reinvented so that it fits
the pattern of a young
woman in love.

Disney created Shang, a male hero for Mulan.
He is her commanding officer. In the movie,
Mulan is wounded in battle and everyone
finds out that she is a woman. Her
punishment is death but Shang cannot kill
her, so he sends her away. After the war he
comes to find her and marry her.

Disney has done it again. Brave, kick-boxing
Mulan does not look like Snow White but, in
fact, the life of a Disney heroine has not
changed very much. Men still have power
over them (Shang quite literally decides
whether Mulan will live or die); and the best
thing that can happen to them is to marry the
hero and live "happily ever after."
Disney’s Mulan

Bring Honor To Us All